By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Most European stocks were slightly lower
Tuesday, with the conflict in Ukraine among the factors weighing on
the market.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index had opened fractionally higher, but
then slipped 0.1% to 329.64. The index on Monday rose 0.3%, the
move solidified after U.S. stocks opened higher after days of sharp
declines.
Ukraine remained in focus Tuesday as a military operation to win
back control of eastern Ukrainian cities from pro-Russian activists
was launched. Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov told Ukraine's
parliament that overnight "an antiterrorist operation" began in the
north of Donetsk, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
The crisis in Ukraine appears to have hurt investor confidence
in Germany, Europe's largest economy, said the Center for European
Economic Research, or Zew institute on Tuesday. Its six-month
expectation index in April reached 43.2, falling from 46.6 in
March, marking the fourth consecutive month of declining
confidence. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal were looking
for an April reading of 45.0.
Momentum picked up in Germany's economy at the start of the
year, but the "cautious expectations in this month's survey are
likely to be caused by the Ukraine conflict, which still creates
uncertainty," said the ZEW institute.
Germany's DAX 30 index was down 0.3% at 9,311.58, slightly
narrowing losses after the sentiment survey was released.
On the Stoxx 600, shares of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA
stood out as the worst performer on the index, falling 8.5%. The
struggling Italian lender is considering raising up to 5 billion
euros ($6.91 billion) in a share sale, more than the 3 billion
euros it previously planned to raise. The company needs to repay a
government loan of EUR4.1 billion, and if the share sale doesn't
occur this year, the bank faces nationalization.
At the same time, Nestlé SA shares picked up 0.5% after the food
producer said first-quarter sales fell 5.1% on weakness in two key
regions and a strong Swiss franc. Drug maker Roche Holding AG also
flagged the impact of the strong Swiss currency, posting a 1%
decline in first-quarter revenue as it hurt the value of growing
sales of Roche's cancer drugs. Excluding the currency impact, sales
rose 5%. Roche shares were up 0.4%.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% at 6,573.33, though Imperial
Tobacco Group tacked on 0.9% after the company said 900 jobs will
be lost as part of its restructuring effort.
But France's CAC 40 was higher by 0.2% at 4,394.63, headed by a
2.4% rise for L'Oreal SA . The shares climbed 2.8% on Monday after
the cosmetics firm forecast a rise in sales and profit this year.
Its revenue for the first quarter fell 2.2% on a year-over-year
basis, dented by weak currencies in its markets.
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