(Reuters) – European shares fell for the fourth-straight session on Monday as investors worried about the impact of increasing Ukraine-Russia tensions and of central banks’ resolve to tame inflation on economic growth and corporate profits.
The region-wide STOXX 600 index was down 0.6% by 0708 GMT, hitting its lowest level since Oct. 3.
The index has fallen more than 3% in four sessions on worries that major global central banks, especially the U.S. Federal Reserve, will continue to raise interest rates aggressively to tame inflation.
Those fears were fanned after data on Friday showed resilience in the U.S. jobs market in September, dousing hopes of a Fed pivot anytime soon.
All the STOXX 600’s sectoral indexes were lower in early trading, led by a 1.4% drop in technology stocks.
Chipmakers, including Infineon and BE Semiconductor, fell between 1% and 2% after Washington published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut China off from certain chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment.
However, Renault SA climbed 4.4% after Reuters reported Nissan Motor Co Ltd is pressing its French partner to cut its stake in the Japanese automaker as much as possible and may consider raising funds to buy back the shares.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of orchestrating what he called a terrorist attack on a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea, as he prepared to hold a meeting of his security council amid calls for reprisals.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
