“European stocks fell for a third day before Cypriot lawmakers meet to discuss a 5.8 billion-euro ($7.5 billion) bank-deposit levy needed to win a bailout. U.S. index futures were little changed and Asian shares climbed.
Rio Tinto Group (RIO) sank to a three-month low as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded the shares. ThyssenKrupp AG plunged the most in 15 months after a report the German steelmaker is considering raising capital. Cie. Financiere Richemont SA slid the most in almost two months as an investor sold a stake in the world’s second-biggest maker of luxury goods.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) fell 0.3 percent to 295.94 at 11:29 a.m. in London, trimming this year’s advance to 5.8 percent. The gauge sank as much as 1.2 percent yesterday, before rallying to close 0.2 percent lower, as euro-area policy makers pushed Cyprus into taking money from bank accounts to reduce the cost of its bailout package to 10 billion euros.
“Cyprus begins to lift the veil on how Brussels works,” Michael O’Sullivan, head of portfolio strategy at Credit Suisse Private Banking in London, told Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television. “One of the pillars of banking reform across Europe was depositor insurance, and that’s now unfortunately off the table. For other peripheral countries, there may be more bank refinancing to come.”
The number of shares trading hands on Stoxx 600 companies today was 7.2 percent lower than the average of the past 30 days, Bloomberg data show. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added less than 0.1 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent.
Cyprus Debate
Cypriot lawmakers will meet at 6 p.m. local time to debate how to spread the proposed tax on bank deposits among account holders. The levy, announced March 16, sparked outrage in the island nation and concern among investors about setting a precedent by breaking the taboo against raiding bank accounts. Banks and stock markets in Cyprus are closed today and tomorrow….”
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