China growth concerns weigh on European shares at open

(Reuters) – European shares fell on Wednesday as fresh data pointing to China’s faltering economic recovery soured investor sentiment, which has been under pressure from uncertainty about future monetary policy steps by major central banks.

The pan-European index was down 0.4% by 7:02 GMT, following a quiet session on Tuesday when the U.S. markets were closed for Independence Day.

China’s services activity expanded at the slowest pace in five months in June, a private-sector survey showed on Wednesday, piling on to a raft of data signalling weakness in the world’s second-largest economy after the pandemic.

Miners fell 1.0% and were the biggest sectoral decliners as concerns around weak demand from top consumer China, as well as slowing growth in other major economies, hurt metal prices.

China-exposed luxury firm LVMH, which is Europe’s most valuable company per market capitalisation, was down 0.4%, while its peer Kering (EPA:), Pernod Ricard (EPA:) and Hermes were down between 0.3% and 0.9%.