FTSE100 and STOXX600 start the day with losses, follow chipmaker shares

• European markets are under pressure from the weakness of chip manufacturers and British pharmaceutical companies.
• The attack on a Gaza hospital added tension to President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel.
• The British market was affected by the fall in Wall Street stocks.

European shares slumped in the latest session, driven lower by the decline in shares of chipmakers and British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Furthermore, growing concerns about an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East added to the overall negative sentiment, influencing markets to decline. The attack on a Gaza hospital, with the loss of hundreds of Palestinian lives, added tension to President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel.

At the time of writing, the British FTSE 100 is down 0.54%, to 7,546 points, while the European STOXX 600 falls to 441 points. The German DAX PERFORMANCE index loses 0.29%, to 15,051 points.

London stocks were hit by the fall in Wall Street values. A British biotechnology company announced a £70 million investment by bioMérieux, owned by the billionaire French Merieux family.

Semiconductor maker ASML Holding suffered a 3.4% loss after reporting lower-than-expected orders and warning of flat sales next year. This, in turn, dragged down the shares of other chipmakers such as ASM International, Aixtron and BE Semiconductor, affecting the European technology sector.

Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia Corporation is launching an aggressive cost-cutting plan that includes laying off between 9,000 and 14,000 employees. The objective is to reduce its workforce from 86,000 to between 72,000 and 77,000 employees. The company attributes its financial problems to macroeconomic factors, reduced customer spending and a slowdown in the rollout of 5G technology in India and North America.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) condemned Swiss International Marketing Company and SwissFS for violating securities regulation. The companies were found guilty of unauthorized securities activities promoted on LinkedIn, resulting in fines of $560,000 each.