European stocks mostly drop on China strains, Ukraine tension

LONDON: Europe’s main stock markets fell Wednesday on fresh concerns over Chinese growth and after a rollercoaster start to the week caused by the crisis in Ukraine.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 0.61 per cent to stand at 6,782.19 points in afternoon trade, with the heavyweight mining sector knocked by unease over China, traders said.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid 0.29 per cent to 9,561.62 points but in Paris the CAC 40 edged up 0.03 per cent compared with Tuesday’s closing values to 4,397.35.
Meanwhile, data released Wednesday suggested the eurozone economic recovery is strengthening.
Gross domestic growth accelerated to 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, while the Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), compiled by Markit Economics, showed that business activity expanded at the fastest rate in two-and-a-half years in February.
Following a slump at the start of the week, stock markets around the world mostly rebounded on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared there was “no need” yet to send troops into Ukraine.
Pro-Kremlin forces are in de facto control of the strategic, majority-Russian Crimean peninsula where Ukrainian troops remain blocked inside their barracks in the most serious stand-off between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War.
In foreign exchange deals, the euro fell to $1.3715 from $1.3742 late in New York on Tuesday. The dollar climbed to 102.52 yen from 102.21 yen.
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold dipped to $1,333.50 an ounce from $1,334.75  Tuesday.
Russia Wednesday revealed it sold a record $11.3 billion in foreign currency to support the ruble on March 3, during a “Black Monday” of panic selling over the crisis in Ukraine which analysts say rattled the Kremlin.
Meanwhile: US stocks opened mostly lower Wednesday after a report showed only modest private-sector jobs growth in February.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.17 percent to 16,368.18 points after five minutes of trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.12 percent to 1,871.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index inched 0.01 percent higher to 4,352.45.
Payrolls firm ADP said US businesses added just 139,000 jobs in February, well below the monthly average of 186,000 over the last year and below the 150,000 expected by analysts.
US stocks had soared on Tuesday and investors pushed the S&P 500 to its second record close in three days on signs of easing tensions over Ukraine.
Meanwhile: Asian markets mostly closed higher on Wednesday, catching up with European and US gains the day before that had been won on the back of Putin playing down the prospect of war.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Adidas shares were showing a loss of 1.9 percent to 81.79 euros after the German maker of sportswear and equipment said it was counting on the World Cup football championships in Brazil to boost sales and earnings this year.