European stocks slide as oil tumbles once more

European shares fell on Tuesday as oil dropped again and investors weighed earnings from a number of companies, including BP and UBS.

Dealers noted that oil prices and poor earnings results from some quarters had left investors increasingly nervous. DUBLIN The big news was the first day of trade for the newly merged Paddy Power Betfair, which debuted on the Dublin market and in London, where the Irish company will have its primary listing.

It ended its first day at €139 a share, valuing the company as a whole at €11.62 billion. Close to 1.2 million of its shares changed hands, a turnover of more than €160 million.

Elsewhere things were tougher, with dealers complaining that the market can “hardly catch a trade” in the current environment.

Ryanair dipped 0.14 per cent to €14.475, but traders said it still outperformed rivals IAG, which owns Aer Lingus, and which was down 2.5 per cent and Easyjet, which was 1 per cent off.

Real estate trust, Irish Residential Properties, added 0.46 per cent to close at €1.095 after about 500,000 of its shares traded.

Fruit importer Fyffes added 3.41 per cent to end the day at €1.396, but brokers pointed out it was simply regaining ground lost on the back of a large buy order at the close of business on Monday.

Index heavyweight, building materials group, CRH, ended the day 3.06 per cent down at €23.60.

LONDON

Newly minted Paddy Power Betfair closed its first day of trade at 10,490 pence, valuing the enlarged gambling group at about £9 billion. It touched highs of 10,781 pence during the day.

Tullow Oil tumbled almost 7.5 per cent to 158.4 pence after analysts at Liberium Capital cut its rating on the Irish oil explorer to hold from buy.

BP slid 8.7 per cent after its quarterly earnings sank 91 per cent, missing estimates.

Anglo American and BHP Billiton dragged miners lower, dropping at least 6.7 per cent.

Sainsbury rose 2.4 per cent after saying it will buy Home Retail Group for about £1.3 billion.

EUROPE

The Stoxx 600 lost 2.1 per cent at the close of trading. Anxiety about global growth has returned, after a two-week halt to the market sell-off sparked by China’s slowdown and an oil rout.

While central bank optimism tempered losses toward the end of last month, the benchmark still had its worst start to a year since the financial crisis.

Among stocks moving on earnings releases, Alfa Laval tumbled 11 per cent after its fourth-quarter pretax profit missed analysts' projections.

Ferrari plunged 9.6 per cent after its forecast for annual vehicle shipments signalled a slowdown in sales growth.

Infineon Technologies dropped 5.8 per cent after its gross margin declined.

Danske Bank gained 4.1 per cent after announcing a share buyback plan that is almost double its previous programme, while Raiffeisen Bank International gained 4.9 per cent after reporting a higher profit than it had forecast.

Some stocks were active on deal activity. Syngenta added 3.7 per cent after people familiar with the matter said China National Chemical is nearing an agreement to buy the Swiss pesticide maker. Kuoni Reisen Holding surged 17 per cent after agreeing to a $1.4 billion offer from Swedish buyout firm EQT Partners AB.

US

Stocks extended their sell-off in early afternoon trading as falling oil prices heightened concerns about the global economy and investors sought safer investments.

Brent oil fell nearly 6 percent, while US crude briefly slid below $30 per barrel, as hopes for a deal between OPEC and Russia on output cuts faded.

Shares of Exxon fell 2.4 per cent and Chevron also fell 3.3 per cent.– (Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters)