European Shares Fall, Affected by Evergrande Crisis

European shares incurred losses at the beginning of today’s session, affected by negative sentiment stemming from renewed concerns about the real estate sector in China and mixed quarterly earnings results.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.4%, retreating from a six-week high.

Asian stocks also fell after news of a failed asset sale of $2.6 billion in debt-laden Chinese property developer Evergrande.

The shares of mining companies, the auto industry and industrial companies were at the forefront of the decliners, coinciding with the growing concern about a group of corporate earnings results announced today, Thursday, and in the coming weeks.

Shares in Swiss engineering and technology ABB fell 3.4% after the company cut its annual sales forecast following a warning of component shortages.

AB Volvo shares fell 2.1%, although earnings beat expectations, but warned that persistent chip shortages were hampering production at the truck maker.

Barclays shares fell 0.6% despite the Bank of England’s strong performance in the third quarter.

Shares of Unilever rose 1.2 percent after the consumer goods company posted sales growth that exceeded expectations in the third quarter, despite raising prices in an attempt to counter rising energy prices and other costs.