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Jan 28 (Reuters) - European stocks hit a near one-month low
on Thursday following Wall Street's worst sell-off since October
on concerns about high valuations, with investors also growing
wary about a rise in more contagious coronavirus variants.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX fell 1% by 0812 GMT,
turning negative for the year, while major regional bourses like
Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France CAC 40 .FCHI slid further
into the red and UK's FTSE 100 .FTSE held on to slim gains for
the year.
Investors looked past strong earnings from Apple AAPL.O
and Facebook FB.O overnight as well as the U.S. Federal
Reserve's pledge to stick to loose monetary policy as worries
about slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and more curbs in Europe
weighed on the mood.
Germany is preparing entry restrictions for travellers from
Britain, Brazil and South Africa, while its health minister
expects the current shortage of coronavirus vaccines to continue
well into April. Miners .SXPP , technology .SX8P , oil & gas .SXEP and
were the biggest decliners among sectors - falling between 1.5%
and 1.6%.
Diageo DGE.L jumped 4% after the world's largest spirits
maker reported a surprise rise in underlying net sales growth in
the first half of the year, helped by strong U.S. demand.