European Stocks Lower; Tech Stocks Hit by Higher Yields By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stocks Lower; Tech Stocks Hit by Higher Yields By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets retreated Tuesday, with high-growth tech stocks pressured by rising bond yields, while investors digest the inconclusive German election and Chinese property group Evergrande’s ongoing debt crisis.

At 4:25 AM ET (0825 GMT), the in Germany traded 1% lower, the in France fell 1.5% and the U.K.’s dropped 0.6%.

Soaring U.S. Treasury yields following last week’s Federal Reserve meeting have translated into higher yields in Europe, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year German bund climbing 3 basis points Tuesday. 

The tech sector has suffered as a consequence, with Logitech (NASDAQ:) stock falling 7.7%, not helped by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) downgrading the Swiss company to ‘underweight’ from ‘equal weight’, and ASM International (OTC:) stock falling 3.6% despite the Dutch semiconductor supplier raising its third-quarter order intake guidance.

On the flip side, financials were supported by the rising interest rates, with the likes of SEB (ST:), Aegon (NYSE:), ABN (AS:), Raiffeisen (VIE:) and Virgin Money (LON:) all trading at 52-week highs. Eni (MI:), BP (NYSE:) also reached 52-week highs as oil and gas prices continued to climb. Most notable was the 13-year high hit by Gazprom (MCX:),