European stocks fall after BoJ move; DAX down 0.94%

Investing.com - European stock markets fell on Monday, trimming some of last week's gains after an intervention by the Bank of Japan in the foreign exchange market to curb the persistently strong yen.

During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 1.05%, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 1.32%, while Germany’s DAX 30 declined 0.94%.

Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tokyo had acted on its own and would keep intervening until it was satisfied with the results. Azumi added that he ordered the intervention because “speculative moves” in the currency failed to reflect Japan’s economic fundamentals.

Meanwhile, market sentiment weakened as investors worried that European leaders' plans to bolster the region's lenders could fail, as the region's largest banks seemed ready to raise only a tenth of the total capital shortfall estimated.

The news sent the financial sector broadly lower, with France's Societe Generale sinking 4.68% and BNP Paribas plummeting 4.64%, while German Deutsche Bank saw shares tumble 3.10%.

Peripheral lenders added to losses with Italian Intesan Sanpaolo dropping 2.44% and Unicredit declining 1% while Spain's BBVA and Banco Santander fell 1.24% and 0.70% respectively.

Energy companies were also on the downside, as France's natural gas giant GDF Suez tumbled 3.95% and Germany's BASF dropped 1.91%.

In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 declined 0.88% tracking losses in energy stocks and commodity prices.

Mining giants Rio Tinto and Bhp Billiton sank 3.10% and 3.38%, while copper producers Xstrata and Kazakhmys plummeted 3.27% and 3.15%.

Meanwhile, U.K. banks were mixed, as shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 1.52% and HSBC Holdings tumbled 1.25%, while Barclays saw shares soar 3.13%.

Elsewhere, U.S. equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a fall of 0.69%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.89% drop, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a decline of 0.73%.

Also Monday, a report showed that German retail sales rose less-than-expected in September, edging up 0.4% after a 2.7% decline the previous month. Analysts had expected German retail sales to rise 1.1% in September.

Later in the day, the U.S was to produce a report on manufacturing activity in the Chicago area.