European Markets Extend Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The European stock markets opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, finishing in the red for the second straight session.

The declines followed weak Chinese data, the U.S. fiscal stimulus stalemate and new quarantine rules in the U.K. that raised uncertainty about the evolution of coronavirus pandemic.

Germany's DAX dropped 92.37 points or 0.71 percent to 12,901.34, while London's FTSE tumbled 95.58 points or 1.55 percent to 1,090.04 and the CAC 40 in France fell 79.45 points or 1.58 percent to 4,962.93.

In Germany, Wirecard plummeted 5.61 percent, while thyssenkrupp tumbled 1.87 percent, Deutsche Lufthansa skidded 1.78 percent, Heidelberg Cement dropped 1.45 percent, Siemens sank 1.04 percent, Deutsche Post lost 0.71 percent, Deutsche Telekom added 0.20 percent and Deutsche Bank dipped 0.05 percent.

In London, Rolls-Royce plummeted 3.96 percent, while Royal Dutch Shell tumbled 2.64 percent, Scottish Mortgage Investment retreated 2.37 percent, Standard Life Aberdeen sank 1.81 percent, Vodafone lost 1.30 percent, Rightmove fell 1.27 percent, Tesco slipped 0.39 percent and BAE Systems dipped 0.04 percent.

In France, Accor plunged 3.93 percent, while Veolia Environment skidded 2.18 percent, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain declined 1.94 percent, Sanofi sank 1.76 percent, Peugeot dropped 1.34 percent, Credit Agricole lost 1.32 percent, Societe Generale fell 0.94 percent and BNP Paribas was down 0.89 percent.

In economic news, the euro area economy contracted at a record pace in the second quarter due to the containment measures taken by member countries to control the spread of the coronavirus, data from Eurostat showed Friday. Gross domestic product fell 12.1 percent in the second quarter, following a 3.6 percent drop in the first quarter. This was the sharpest decline seen since the series began in 1995.

Also, employment in the euro area declined at a record pace in Q2 as the imposition of the coronavirus containment measures dragged the bloc into a historic recession, Eurostat added.

The German economic recovery is likely to take a long time, the economy ministry said in its monthly report on Friday. The economy has started to recover since May. The ministry said GDP will recover strongly in the third quarter. However, the recovery process will be slow and take a long time to complete, the ministry added.