Euro hit, shares subdued after downbeat Ifo

World shares dipped on Friday having clawed their way back towards all-time highs after a week of largely reassuring economic signals but rising political tensions. European markets opened with the region's main bourses down 0.1 to 0.6 per cent as investors digested the bloc's latest sanctions for Russia and a flurry of data from German business confidence to UK growth. Germany's Ifo survey showed there had been hefty fall in business confidence in Europe's biggest economy over the last few weeks, raising worries the region's growth engine could be stuttering. ‘Geopolitical tensions are taking their toll on the German economy,’ Ifo said in a statement. ‘Companies were also less optimistic about future business developments.’ In the currency market, the euro dipped after the downbeat data and the dollar, which has been the dominant force among the majors again this week, gained against the yen too, according to Reuters.