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Tuesday April 17, 7:24 PMMiners and Telecom Italia weigh on European stocksFRANKFURT, April 17 (Reuters) - European shares fell at midday on Tuesday as mining stocks and a drop in Telecom Italia shares weighed on markets while investors keenly awaited key U.S. inflation data.The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.4 percent at 1,565.49 at 1059 GMT, after the index hit a six-and-a-half-year closing high in the previous session. Among major movers, Telecom Italia fell 2.3 percent after U.S. phone giant AT&T pulled out of talks with Pirelli to buy a majority stake in Olimpia, which controls Telecom Italia. European mining stocks, such as Anglo American , Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton fell about 1.3 percent each, as copper fell 0.8 percent. Nickel and gold also slipped. Global asset manager Schroders and Schroders NV both dipped about 1.1 percent after sterling rose above $2 for the first time since September 1992, traders said. Sterling finally hurdled the psychological $2 barrier to hit a 15-year peak against the dollar as UK inflation topped 3 percent, while robust German investor sentiment kept the euro well supported. European indices reacted little to the latest survey by the ZEW economic research institute, which showed sentiment among German investors on the outlook for Europe's largest economy rose more than expected in April. London's FTSE 100 index extended losses after a surprisingly high read on UK inflation, falling 0.7 percent, while Frankfurt's DAX dropped 0.5 percent and Paris's CAC 40 fell 0.6 percent. "We've got a sense of correction in the market today, which could be enforced, if U.S. inflation data comes in worse than expected. If not, we see further gains," said Boris Boehm, head of equity fund management at Nordinvest. Reports on U.S. inflation, housing starts and industry production are expected later in the session, while the report likely to elicit the most interest is the consumer price index. Economists polled by Reuters estimated the CPI to have risen at a 0.6 percent pace in March while the core CPI is seen to have risen 0.2 percent, matching the rise in February. On the upside Tesco rose 1.1 percent and was the top gainer in the DJ Stoxx 50 index after Britain's largest supermarket chain rang in a record 2.55 billion pounds ($5.1 billion) annual profit and doubled the amount of cash it plans to return to shareholders. The euro maintained its gains against the dollar, which hit shares of exporters such as French carmaker Renault , down 0.8 percent or BMW , down 1.4 percent. |
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