Summary Facebook social network announced an eye-popping cash-and-stock deal worth up to $19 billion.
LONDON (AFP) - Europe s main stock markets slid following a slump for share prices across Asia after poorly-received Chinese data and on the outlook for US stimulus, traders said.
London s benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.28 percent to stand at 6,777.96 points approaching midday in the British capital, weighed down by a heavy drop in the share price of British defense group BAE Systems.
Frankfurt s DAX 30 shed 1.20 percent to 9,543.94 points and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.39 percent to 4,324.21 compared with Wednesday s closing values.
"Another piece of poor data from China ... with markets getting no favors’ from Fed minutes either after the January minutes re-affirmed intentions to wind down stimulus by year-end," said Toby Morris, a senior trader at CMC Markets.
The European single currency fell to $1.3697 from $1.3733 late in New York on Wednesday.
The euro slipped to 82.27 British pence from 82.33 pence, while the pound retreated to $1.6649 from $1.6680.
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to $1,314.54 an ounce from $1,320.50 on Wednesday.
Asian stock markets slumped on Thursday, as China manufacturing data showed the world s second-largest economy losing strength and Japan logged its worst-ever January trade deficit.
HSBC s preliminary reading for its purchasing managers index (PMI), which tracks manufacturing activity in China s factories and workshops, contracted in February to its lowest level in seven months.
The index, a closely-watched gauge of the health of the Asian economic powerhouse, also tumbled in January, losing ground for the first time in six months.
The gloomy China and Japan data came as the IMF called for the Group of 20, which meets in Sydney at the weekend, to boost growth as it warned of risks to the global economy -- from deflation in Europe to high volatility in emerging economies.
On the corporate front, shares in BAE tumbled 8.22 percent to 400.9 pence after the company warned that earnings would drop this year on cuts to government spending in its main market the United States.
BAE said that 2013 net profit had slumped 82 percent owing to an impairment charge on its US business totaling 865 million ( $1.441 billion, 1.052 billion Euros).
DANONE shares advanced 2.0 percent to 52 Euros despite the French dairy food giant reporting a 15.0-percent slump in net profits last year, blaming a false health scare, high milk prices and currency factors in some emerging markets.
DANONE said it expected to return to strong, lasting and profitable growth in the second half of this year, saying that 2014 sales would rise by 4.5-5.5 percent and that operating margins would be broadly stable.
Shares in French Natixis bank, a subsidiary of Banque Populaire Caisse d Epargne, rose by 3.34 percent to 4.86 Euros after the bank reported a 6.0-percent rise in net profit last year to 964 million Euros.
US stock markets closed lower on Wednesday after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed some policymakers sought an early hike in the central bank s benchmark interest rate.
Attention was on Face book after the world s biggest social network announced an eye-popping cash-and-stock deal worth up to $19 billion (14 billion Euros) for Smartphone messaging service WhatsApp.
