(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Tuesday as grim forecasts from German giants Bayer and Lufthansa soured sentiment, while a battered pound helped London’s blue-chip index outperform for a second day.
Bayer <BAYGn.DE> slipped 4.4% as it became the latest agricultural supplies company to be affected by flooded farms in the United States and by trade disputes, saying its full-year earnings target has become harder to reach.
Taking other airlines down with it, Germany’s Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> dropped 3.5% after posting a decline in second-quarter earnings and saying that the European market was likely to remain challenging this year.
A GfK survey also showed German consumer morale worsening for the third month in a row heading into August as trade disputes and a global economic slowdown bit in Europe’s biggest exporter.
Combined, that pushed Germany’s main stocks index <.GDAXI> 0.2% lower by 0713 GMT, while the pan-European stocks benchmark <.STOXX> fell 0.2%.
London’s blue chip FTSE 100 <.FTSE> index touched 11 month highs, helped by a 3% jump in shares in energy giant BP <BP.L>.
(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru)
