European Shares Drop as Huawei CFO Arrest Renews Trade Concerns

(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s stocks opened lower on Thursday, amid concerns that the arrest of the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co. could reignite U.S.-China trade tensions.

With U.S. markets closed yesterday, but futures clearly in minus territory, Asia and Europe continued on a weak note, said Martin Guri, head of Nordic strategy at Kepler Cheuvreux.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.1 percent, with all sectors trading in the red. Construction, technology and basic resources were at the bottom of the pack. Sectors previously impacted by trade tensions include autos and miners.

“The already weak sentiment is burdened by the arrest of Huawei’s CFO in Canada which might put the trade negotiations in jeopardy,” Guri said. The CFO Wanzhou Meng was arrested at U.S. request over potential violations of the country’s sanctions against Iran.

Oil remained one of the main talking points, with ministers from the core OPEC group set to meet on Thursday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hanna Hoikkala in Stockholm at hhoikkala@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis

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