Commodities Stocks Lead Declines

Commodities Stocks Lead Declines

European stocks headed lower Monday, hit by profit-taking in the oil and mining sectors.

(Source Wall Street Journal) The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 1.6% at 210.83. London's FTSE 100 Index was off 1.8% to 4358.32, Frankfurt's DAX fell 2% to 4965.38, and the CAC-40 Index in Paris was down 1.9% at 3262.24.

The oil market has had the longest bull move with no serious retracement since January/July last year, said Simon Denham at capital Spreads, boosting oil equity stocks. "It must be mentioned that there is now room for a bit of a fall." Also gold is falling in harmony with everything else Monday morning, hitting the mining stocks.

"The weakness of the dollar has helped in recent weeks to send the precious metal higher," said Mr. Denham, "but there is a distinct feeling that investors now have more important things to worry about than getting sucked into another yellow metal bubble."

Shares in Royal Dutch Shell slid 2.9% while shares in ArcelorMittalwere 3.6% lower. The Dow Jones pan-European Stoxx 600 oil & gas index traded down 2% to 299.7, while the Dow Jones pan-European Stoxx 600 basic resource index was off 3.1% to 368.7.
Among other stocks to watch, TomTomdeclined 6.6% after the navigation-products maker said it plans to raise about $607 million by selling new shares to alleviate a heavy debt burden.

In Asia, share markets were mostly lower in subdued Monday trade, with energy and mining stocks falling. Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1%, while South Korea's Kospi Composite closed 1.1% lower. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was last seen 1.9% lower. Read Article... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124504751817214641.html