Eurostoxx 50:2,190.44 (–26.26) Frankfurt DAX:5,537.48 (–46.66) Paris CAC:3,087.64 (–31.36)

EUROPEAN SHARES ended lower yesterday after Mr Bernanke announced no fresh measures to boost sluggish growth in the world’s largest economy, although they managed to eke out a small weekly gain and snap a four-week losing streak.

After a volatile week’s trade, in which a three-day short-covering rally gave way to two sessions of falls as hopes for a third round of US quantitative easing dimmed, the market sold off heavily after Mr Bernanke’s speech before paring losses.

“The initial reaction was overdone,” a London-based portfolio trader at a leading US investment bank said, while economists at Société Générale said the decision to extend a September Fed meeting could lend support to some.

The FTSEurofirst 300 ended the day down 0.7 per cent at 919.03 points in volume at 89 per cent of its 90-day daily average, chalking up a 1 per cent gain for the week after falling 19 per cent in the previous four.

Banks and insurers, particularly those not covered by the region’s piecemeal short-selling ban, were once again among the hardest hit by the broad market selloff. Insurer Aviva ended down 2.3 per cent.

Standout faller across the index, however, was National Bank of Greece, which ended down 7.6 per cent in volume 167 per cent of its 90-day daily average, leading domestic peers lower on recapitalisation concerns ahead of results next week. Piraeus Bank sank 6.7 per cent to 56 cents. UBS said the Greek debt crisis “remains challenging”.

Alpha Bank and EFG Eurobank Ergasias retreated 5 per cent to €1.90 and 6 per cent to €1.73 respectively before reporting earnings next week.

Gildemeister, a German maker of cutting tools, rallied 6.5 per cent to €10.97.

Rautaruukki Oyj fell 5.1 per cent to €9.45, its lowest price since February 2005, as the Finnish steelmaker was cut to “hold” from “buy” at Deutsche Bank.

Lanxess tumbled 5.8 per cent to €39.79, its lowest price in 11 months, after the German chemical maker said in a statement that CEO Axel Heitmann sold almost his entire holding in the company, raising €9.88 million. – (Reuters/Bloomberg)