By Tommy Stubbington
European stocks remained under pressure Friday, weighed down by
a sharp selloff on Wall Street overnight.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index extended the previous day's declines
to trade 0.2% lower midmorning.
Thursday's session had turned sour after U.S. markets opened,
with a combination of high stock prices, worries about the path of
U.S. monetary policy and uncertainty over the global economy and
conflicts sparking a 1.6% decline in the S&P 500.
"Slowing growth in China and a tightening in U.S. interest rate
markets are combining to make this a frenetic month for global
equity markets," said analysts at Barclays.
The selling continued in Asia, where Japan's Nikkei dropped
0.9%, but markets steadied somewhat in Europe. Germany's DAX fell
0.1% after a survey released Friday showed German consumer
confidence is expected to deteriorate for a second consecutive
month in October.
France's CAC 40 was 0.1% higher, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost
0.3%.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a steady start for the S&P
500. Changes in futures aren't necessarily reflected in market
moves after the opening bell.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar chalked up small gains,
pushing it close to the near two-year high against the euro it
reached on Thursday before the equity selloff pulled it back
somewhat. The euro was 0.1% lower at $1.2748.
The Russian ruble tumbled to a fresh record low against the
dollar, with the currency's slide showed little sign of abating
despite the cease-fire in Eastern Ukraine.
"There's a sensation in markets that the cease fire is very
fragile, and people are starting to question how it's going to
hold," said Ilan Solot, an emerging-market strategist at Brown
Brothers Harriman.
The ruble fell more than 1% to 38.982 to the dollar.
In corporate news, banknote printer De La Rue plummeted after
the firm announced a profit warning.
Air France-KLM was also among the fallers as a pilots' strike at
Air France entered its 12th day.
In commodities markets, gold climbed 0.4% to $1,227.20 an ounce,
and Brent crude oil lost 0.3% to $96.74 a barrel.
Write to Tommy Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com