China-exposed miners, luxury shares drag STOXX 600 down; Lanxess plunges

By Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

(Reuters) -German stocks fell on Tuesday as shares of speciality chemicals maker Lanxess plunged after lowering its earnings forecast, while a modest interest rate cut by Beijing did little to lift investor sentiment among Europe’s China-exposed shares.

index closed 0.6% lower, retreating further from a record high hit on Friday. The continent-wide index also fell 0.6%.

Lanxess slid 15.4% to its lowest level in over three years after cutting its second-quarter and annual core profit forecasts, saying it saw no demand recovery in June as customers continued to destock.

The chemicals index slid 0.9%.

China cut its lending benchmarks on Tuesday, with investors worrying that it may be too small to jumpstart a slow economic recovery and awaited a wider stimulus package.

“The China reopening story has been one of the real disappointments,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:).

The market feels that the Chinese have been a little timid, that they really have not been as aggressive as they can be, Sosnick added.

The China-exposed basic resources index dropped 2.2%, while luxury giant LVMH shed 0.9%.

Defensive sectors such as utilities and healthcare capped losses on the STOXX 600.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:) supported the healthcare index as it rose 3.7%.

The French drugmaker said the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in its favour in an arbitration case over claims by Boehringer Ingelheim that Sanofi should be liable for ongoing Zantac litigation in the United States.

British auto retailer Lookers jumped 33.9% as Global Auto Holdings said it would buy the peer for about 465.4 million pounds (about $595 million) in cash.

Also in the UK, the focus is on elevated mortgage rates ahead of key inflation data due on Wednesday and the Bank of England’s policy meeting on Thursday.

London’s slipped 0.3%.

UBS Group fell 2.4% after report on Monday that the bank faces hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties over Credit Suisse’s mishandling of Archegos Capital.

Investors now await the testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday and Thursday for further cues on the monetary policy outlook for the world’s largest economy.