(For a live blog on European stocks, type LIVE/ in an Eikon
news window)
* Despite Friday's losses, STOXX posts weekly gains
* Broadcom's sales warning hits chipmakers
* DKSH Holdings tumbles after Credit Suisse downgrades
(Updates to close)
By Medha Singh and Sruthi Shankar
June 14 (Reuters) - Trade-sensitive technology stocks led
losses in European markets on Friday after U.S. chipmaker
Broadcom's sales warning and disappointing industrial data out
of China came as the clearest signs yet of the damage trade war
may do to global growth.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX closed down 0.4%,
with Frankfurt's DAX index .GDAXI , which lists Europe's
largest chipmaker Infineon IFXGn.DE , falling 0.6%.
Broadcom AVGO.O , one of the biggest U.S. players in the
chip sector, blamed the $2 billion hit to its 2019 sales on
trade tensions and the ban on doing business with Huawei
Technologies HWT.UL . The warning battered European peers as concerns about a hit
to earnings from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war fed into fears
of slowing chip demand.
Infineon, AMS AMS.S and STMicroelectronics STM.MI ,
Siltronic WAFGn.DE , Dialog Semiconductor DLGS.DE fell
between 2.5% and 5.5% and pulled the technology sector .SX8P
down 1.8%.
"This is unlikely to be Broadcom specific but a trend to
expect in the second half of this year," said Neil Campling at
technology analyst at Mirabaud Securities in London.
"The outlook of a rebound for the chip sector, which many
hope for, is highly unlikely to materialise."
Earlier, Chinese data showed industrial output growth slowed
to a more than 17-year low in May and sent the euro zone bond
yields to fresh lows. However, Friday's losses were not severe enough to erode the
gains built this week on hopes that monetary easing in Europe
and the United States would offset the concerns over growth that
drove a sell-off in May. The STOXX 600 ended the week up about
0.4%, its second consecutive week of gains.
"The flight to safety in bonds isn't all to do with the rate
cut expectations. It is about taking the money out and putting
it somewhere more defensive. Autos, banks and techs are the
lowest so clearly there is a rotational trade," said Mark
Taylor, sales trader at Mirabaud.
Mining .SXPP and auto .SXAP stocks which typically fall
on trade concerns, fell about 0.9% each.
Utilities .SX6P , among sectors considered as bond-proxies,
rose 0.5%, helped by shares of National Grid NG.L , which was
upgraded by Bernstein and France's Rubis RUBF.PA . Brokerage recommendations also drove moves in shares, with
Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum LUPE.ST rising 2.9% after
Goldman Sachs upgraded its shares to "buy" from "neutral".
DKSH Holdings DELM.KL tumbled 10% after Credit Suisse
downgraded shares of the Switzerland-based consultancy to
"underperform".