LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) – European shares opened sharply
lower on Monday as Greece’s failure to form a government
threatened to deepen the euro zone crisis.
Euro zone banks fell 2.4 percent after Greek
political leaders failed in their latest efforts to form a
ruling coalition, keeping investors on edge over the risk the
country may exit the euro zone.
“It’s a real headache because the political framework is
going against any kind of risky assets,” Franz Wenzel, chief
strategist at AXA Investment Managers in Paris, said. “We are in
for a month or two of fairly bumpy markets at least. Capital
preservation is probably the name of the game rather than
anything else.”
Basic resources stocks also weighed amid worries
about slowing growth in top commodities consumer China after
Beijing cut banks’ cash reserve requirements following a series
of recent weak data.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 1.1 percent at 1,011.48
by 0711 GMT.
