WORLD
Europe stocks drop as ECB cuts 2013 growth outlook
Baku, June 7 (AZERTAC). European stock markets ended lower on Thursday after the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold and lowered its growth outlook for the euro zone for 2013.
The Bank of England also left interest rates unchanged, as expected. The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP -0.88% fell 1.2% to 291.69.
Trading in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon opened an hour later than usual due to a technical glitch.
Banks posted some of the biggest losses, with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA IT:BMPS -7.29% down 8.1%, National Bank of Greece SA GR:ETE -5.14% 5.1% lower and Unione di Banche Italiane SCpA IT:UBI -5.34% off 6.2%.
ECB cuts growth forecast
The pan-European benchmark had kicked the day off on an upbeat note, but fell in the afternoon after ECB President Mario Draghi addressed the euro-zone economy at his monthly news conference. He said ECB staff cuts its forecast for 2013 to a 0.6% fall in gross domestic product versus a March forecast of a 0.5% contraction. The staff, however, lifted the 2014 forecast to 1.1% growth from 1%.
The projections came after the ECB left its key lending rate unchanged at a record low 0.5% and made no changes to the deposit rate.
German manufacturing orders dropped 2.3% in April month-on-month, falling short of analyst expectations of a 0.9% decline.
The Bank of England left interest rates at a record low of 0.5%, and kept its asset-buying plan at 375 billion pounds ($579 billion).
In the U.S., stocks edged higher. Data showed that the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 346,000.
Germany’s DAX 30 index DX:DAX -1.19% fell 1.2% to 8,098.81, with Commerzbank AG DE:CBK -2.64% 2.4% lower and Deutsche Bank AG DE:DBK -2.22% down 2.3%.
Shares of SAP AG DE:SAP -0.65% finished nearly unchanged, after the software firm said it agreed to buy Swiss maker of online logistics-management software Hybris in a deal reportedly valued at more than $1 billion.