European stocks slumped Monday, declining on fears over China’s struggling property sector as well as the Chinese effort to rein in commodity prices.
The continued rout in iron-ore futures sent miners including Anglo American AAL, -7.93% and Rio Tinto RIO, -5.02% sharply lower, as worries about the world’s second-largest economy mounted with questions surrounding the ability of property developer China Evergrande 3333, -10.24% to make two interest payments this week.
“The big question is whether Evergrande’s problems will cause a contagion to other companies/sectors in China and hit growth there,” said Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss Holding.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, -1.79% fell 1.8% to 453.52, as banks including Deutsche Bank DBK, -4.43% and Societe Generale GLE, -5.34% also traded sharply lower.
Of the major regional indexes, the German DAX DAX, -2.13% skidded 2.2%, the French CAC 40 PX1, -1.99% slumped 2.4% and the U.K. FTSE 100 UKX, -1.54% slumped 1.5%.
The Hang Seng HSI, -3.30% dropped more than 3% with markets in Japan, South Korea and China closed for holidays, and U.S. stock futures ES00, -1.24% NQ00, -1.05% pointed to a downbeat start on Wall Street.
The biggest Stoxx 600 faller was Prudential PLC PRU, -7.06%, which fell 6% after announcing it will sell up to 131 million shares.
The biggest Stoxx 600 gainer was Deutsche Lufthansa LHA, +2.48%, which rose 4% after announcing a €2.1 billion stock sale to repay its bailout.
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