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Market Update

Europe: Stocks Led Lower by French Banks

Jun 15, 2011

Equities in Europe were trading slightly lower early Wednesday, with French banks trading pressured after Moody's said it may downgrade their ratings owing to exposure to Greek debt.

At the time of writing, Britain's FTSE, France's CAC and Germany's DAX were off between 0.1% and 0.3%.

In French financials, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale dropped 1.4% to 2% after Moody's said it may put the banks debt and deposit rating on downgrade.

Peers Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings and Lloyds Banking Group were trading about 0.9% lower each.

But losses to the broader indexes were limited, thanks to strength in miners: BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata rose between 0.6% and 0.9%.

Shares in Hennes & Mauritz were off 2.7% while J Sainsbury climbed 0.5% after the retailers announced comparable-sales numbers.

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