European stocks dipped on Monday as investors seeing a key index of German business sentiment hit its lowest level in almost two years decided to book some of last week’s sharp gains, Bloomberg reported.
Following an early rally, most euro zone banking stocks turned negative in late morning as traders took profits off the table after the sector’s 14 percent surge since mid-October in the run-up to the results of the European Central Bank sector review.
A report showed a gauge of Germany’s business climate dropped for a sixth month to the lowest since 2012, adding pressure to European assets.
US stocks fell, paring gains from last week’s rally that was the biggest since January 2013, as energy producers slumped with lower oil prices and economic reports added to concern about the region’s economy.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.4 percent to 1,957.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 39.88 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,765.53.
Energy producers in the S&P 500 sank 2 percent. Brent crude slid for a second day as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its oil price forecasts, predicting supply growth from non-OPEC producers will outpace global demand. Accelerating output from producers outside North America including Brazil and Azerbaijan will result in an oversupply in 2015, Goldman Sachs said.
Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 80 percent have beaten earnings estimates and 60 percent surpassed revenue projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit for the index’s members rose 6.3 percent in the third quarter and sales increased 4.1 percent, analysts predicted.
Tokyo stocks opened 0.74 percent higher, helped by a stable dollar against the yen and gains on the Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 average climbed 97.08 points to close at 15,388.72. The Topix ended 11.96 points higher to end at 1,254.28.
The market kicked off the week with gains after the Dow Jones industrial average closed at the highest level in some two weeks on the back of brisk corporate earnings reports.
Heavily weighted components of the Nikkei average, including mobile carrier SoftBank, led the way up. After the initial buying ran its course, the market’s upside was capped by the yen’s moderate firming against the dollar, brokers said.
Hong Kong shares fell on Monday, dragged down by a slide in brokerages amid uncertainty over the launch date of a closely-watched scheme linking the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.
The Hang Seng Index unofficially closed down 0.7 percent at 23,143.23 points. The China Enterprises Index of the leading offshore Chinese listings in Hong Kong fell 0.8 percent.
