The German share price index, DAX board, is seen at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, December 19, 2017. REUTERS/Staff/Remote
December 20, 2017
By Danilo Masoni
MILAN (Reuters) – European shares inched lower on Wednesday following a drop in the previous session when a sell-off on the bond market weighed and support from a landmark tax reform in the U.S. faded.
The pan-European STOXX 600 <.STOXX> benchmark fell 0.1 percent by 0933 GMT. Germany’s top share DAX <.GDAXI> index and the UK’s FTSE <.FTSE> also fell by the same amount.
The Republican-led U.S. Senate approved the sweeping $1.5-trillion tax bill in the small hours of Wednesday, moving their party and President Donald Trump a step closer to the largest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years.
“In the short term the U.S. tax reform is already priced in. What remains to be seen is whether U.S. companies will follow up with share buy backs or investments,” said Andrea Scauri, fund manager at Italy’s Ifigest.
He said the European equity market was penalized by a strong euro, adding that any further increase in the bloc’s currency could lead to a downwards revision of earnings estimates, especially for the export oriented DAX index.
“This is the big risk I see for 2018,” he said.
The STOXX 600 has risen more than 8 percent so far this year, while the euro zone STOXX index is up 11 percent.
Both indexes are below the peaks they hit at the start of last month as resurfacing political worries and a slowdown in earning growth has sparked some profit taking.
Steinhoff <SNHG.DE> was the biggest loser on the STOXX on Wednesday, down 31 percent as the scandal-hit South African furniture retailer started losing credit lines from lenders.
Steinhoff said it was still unable to determine the scale of accounting irregularities which have wiped more than $10 billion off its market value over the past two weeks.
British American Tobacco <BATS.L> was the biggest weight, down 0.8 percent following gains in the previous session.
Some analysts say BAT should benefit from the U.S. tax reform as the UK-listed tobacco company makes more than 40 percent of its profits in the States.
UK drugmaker Shire <SHP.L> inched up 0.3 percent following a 3.8 percent surge in the previous session which traders attributed to vague takeover rumors.
“Shire is arguably an attractive target for “Big Pharma” given the company’s dominant franchises and strong cash flow generation,” said Jefferies analysts in a note.
“US tax reform legislation could drive an M&A reacceleration in the broader healthcare arena. And, this dynamic could potentially result in another bid for Shire,” they added.
The top gainer was Stada <STAGn.DE>, up 8.9 percent, after the German pharmaceutical company agreed a new profit transfer deal with its new majority investor, Nidda Healthcare.
Weaker financials also weighed on the broader market with bank heavyweights Banco Santander <SAN.MC> BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> and UniCredit <CRDI.MI> all trading down, between 0.6 and 1.1 percent.
Dufry <DUFN.S> rose 3.5 percent, after activist investor Elliot took a 6 percent stake in the company.
RWE <RWEG.DE> rose 0.6 percent, after the CEO of its Innogy <IGY.DE> unit resigned just days after a profit warning that hit shares in both companies. Innogy gained 1 percent.
(Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
