Europe close: Stocks slip after acromonious APEC summit, Technology sold
Another round of heavy selling in technology issues dragged on the Continent's main share indices, albeit on lighter than usual trading volumes on account of the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday in the States, amid ongoing doubts around the outlook for Sino-US trade relations and political uncertainties in Italy and the UK.
Critically, at the weekend, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit saw US vice-President, Michael Pence, and China's Xi Jinping set out conflicting visions for the region.
As a result, and for the first time ever, no joint statement was issued following the summit, with China having reportedly, according to a US official, opposed - alone - a reference in the communique to a commitment by all regional players to avoid any form of unfair practices.
Indeed, according to AFP, some Chinese delegates stormed the foreign ministry of Papua, New Guinea, in order to influence the draft of the communique.
Beijing denied the veracity of that report.
By the end of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had reversed course to fall by 0.73% or 2.60 points to 355.11, alongside a drop of 0.85% or 96.46 points to 11,244.54 for the German Dax, while the FTSE Mibtel gave back 0.29% or 55.18 points to 18,823.13.
France's Cac-40 meanwhile was down by 0.79% to 4,985.45, dragged down by a 8.43% slump in shares of Renault after its boss, Carlos Gohn, was arrested in Tokyo on charges of having broken financial trading laws in the country.
Technology issues were especially weak, tracking losses in shares of peers across the Pond, with the Stoxx 600 sector gauge crumbling by 1.97% to 403.72, alongside another large drop in Bitcoin prices, which some strategists had suggested might be symptomatic of the current market backdrop.
Acting as a backdrop, investors were also braced for a possible announcement from Brussels, on Wednesday, that it was opening an Excessive Deficit Procedure against Rome.
Ahead of that, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Friday that he was planning a meeting with European Commission President, Jean Claude Juncker, with the details to be agreed at the start of the following week.
Meanwhile, in London, investors were waiting on the details of the long-term relationship being negotiated by Westminister and Brussels and kept track of Tory MPs calls for a leadership challenge.
In economic news, the European Central Bank reported that the euro area's current account surplus fell from €24.0bn for August to €18.0bn in September.
Separately, according to Eurostat, Eurozone construction output jumped by 2.0% month-on-month in September.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, stock in Telecom Italia was bolstered at the start of the week after the operator named Luigi Gubitosi, an ex Merrill Lynch banker, as its new boss, in a move that market participants believed would bring a smile to the face of activist investor Elliot Management, which is pushing for an overhaul of the firm.