Published : 7 days ago, on 02/12/2024

(Reuters) – Europe’s main stocks index opened lower on Monday, with France’s benchmark CAC 40 dropping more than 1% due to the country’s political turmoil, while Stellantis slid on the carmaker’s abrupt CEO resignation.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.3% as of 0810 GMT.

Paris and Milan-listed shares in Stellantis slumped around 7% each after CEO Carlos Tavares’s resignation, aiding a near 2% decline in the automobiles index.

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) will likely back a no-confidence motion against the government in the coming days unless there’s a “last-minute miracle”, after RN lawmaker Marine Le Pen gave Prime Minister Michel Barnier until Monday to yield to the party’s budget demands.

Additionally, the country’s main stocks index was dragged by lenders, with Credit Agricole, Societe Generale SA and BNP Paribas, down around 2% each.

French borrowing costs topped those of Greece for the first time ever, while the euro slumped against the dollar.

Chip stocks dragged the tech index, with the U.S. set to launch its third crackdown in three years on China’s semiconductor industry.

Among individual stocks, Delivery Hero lost 7% as the German delivery company’s freelance riders at its Glovo unit in Spain will be hired as employees.

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)