EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Extend Selloff, Head For Weekly Fall

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European markets fell sharply Friday, ensuring weekly losses as investors backtracked from global stocks on valuation concerns.

The Stoxx Europe 600 sloped 1.7% lower to 327.90, and was set for 3.3% drop on a weekly basis, the first such decline since the week ended March 14.

In line with much of this week's pattern, European stocks on Friday fell in the wake of selloffs in Asia and on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 closed down 2.4%, its lowest level this year, while the Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) fell 3.1% as tech and biotech stocks extended their pullbacks.

Among European tech names, shares of ARM Holdings PLC slumped by 4.9%, Logitech International SA gave up 3.9%, and Infineon Technologies AG was down 3.4%.

The direction European equities go will soon be a "reflection of what the S&P [500 index] does next," and the U.S. equity index has "outperformed by quite some distance an awful lot of the other European benchmarks over the past four to five years," said Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets, in a telephone interview. "That to me means that the scope for a correction is greater in the S&P and there will be an inevitable spillover effect into European markets."

Hewson said he's "not 100% convinced" that a spillover will drag European benchmarks below their lows of this year and stoke a sustained sell off in European equities. "But what I do think we need to see is a shakeout in the S&P 500," he said.

S&P 500 futures (SPX) were down 0.6% on Friday, hit by premarket losses for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) after the bank's quarterly profit missed analyst expectations.

Leading decliners on the Stoxx 600 were Norwegian companies Aker Solutions ASA and Orkla ASA , falling 7.3% and 6.4%, respectively, as shares of the oil and gas industry services provider and the conglomerate each traded without dividend rights. Also hit hard, Thales SA shares slid 3.6% after J.P. Morgan cut its rating on the French defense-electronics group to neutral from overweight.

U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 1.2% to 6,559.81 with only six of the index's components moving higher. Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC gained 1.2%, rival J Sainsbury PLC picked up 0.5%, and metals miner Fresnillo PLC moved up 0.6%.

Germany's DAX 30 dropped 1.9% to 9,276.58, and France's CAC 40 fell 1.5% to 4,346.79.

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