FTSE extends losses ahead of May speech, Europe lower too

Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG

17/01/2017 08:00

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - European shares fell on Tuesday, 
weighed by miners and autos, as markets awaited details of 
Britain's Brexit position in a late morning speech by Prime 
Minister Theresa May. 
    The pan-European STOXX  .STOXX  index was down 0.5 percent, 
and Britain's blue-chip FTSE  .FTSE  extended its losses, down 
0.4 percent. 
    Fears that Britain is heading for a "hard" Brexit were 
reinforced over the past week pushing the pound to some of the 
lowest levels against the U.S. dollar seen in more than three 
decades. 
    Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it "half in, 
half out" of the European Union, British PM May will say on 
Tuesday, according to her office, in a speech setting out her 12 
priorities for upcoming divorce talks with the bloc. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1F655Y 
    British aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce was a top European 
gainer in the index after it settled a long-running bribery 
probe and said its 2016 profit would beat 
expectations. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1F71EK 
    Shares in German fashion retailer Zalando slumped down 6.5 
percent, the top European faller, after its sales growth 
disappointed expectations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1F716E 
    Swiss chocolate maker Lindt saw its shares gain 3.1 percent 
after it succeeded in growing sales in Europe, Japan and Brazil, 
facing headwinds of low consumer confidence.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1F70UA 
    Basic resources stocks were the biggest sectoral fallers, 
down 1.1 percent, weighed by lower metals prices. Anglo American 
 AAL.L , BHP Billiton  BLT.L  and Antofagasta  ANTO.L  were down 
1.6 to 1.8 percent. 
    Mediaset  MS.MI  was down 3.8 percent after a report, 
without citing sources, said a potential takeover offer for the 
Italian broadcaster by France's Vivendi would not be 'judicially 
acceptable' for Italian communications authority AGCOM. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1F71EN 
 
 (Reporting by Helen Reid, Editing by Vikram Subhedar) 
 ((Helen.Reid@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7748;)) 
 
Keywords: EUROPE STOCKS/