Turkish turmoil, Germany lockdown extension hit European stocks

  • 3/22/2021
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(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window) March 22 (Reuters) - A slump in Turkey’s lira and worries about prolonged lockdowns in Germany pushed European stocks lower on Monday, with banks and travel shares taking the biggest hit. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.5% by 0806 GMT, down for the second straight session after hitting a one-year peak last week. The global mood soured as the Turkish lira dropped to a record low after President Tayyip Erdogan replaced a hawkish central bank governor with a critic of high interest rates over the weekend. Euro zone banks exposed to the country such as Spain’s BBVA , Italy’s UniCredit, France’s BNP Paribas , and Dutch bank ING fell between 1.6% and 5.2%. Travel stocks also dropped as a draft proposal seen by Reuters showed Germany was set to extend a lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic into its fifth month. The German DAX was down 0.5%, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.9% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.8%. British home improvement retailer Kingfisher rose 3.6% after it reported a 44% jump in full-year profit, driven by the popularity of do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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