LONDON — Most of Europe’s stock markets dipped this morning, following Friday’s downgrade of the credit rating for nine euro zone countries by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent to 5,609.91, the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 0.5 percent to 3,180.09, while the FTSE MIB in Milan fell 0.2 percent to 14,977.84.
Standard & Poor’s had downgraded Italy’s credit rating from an A to a BBB+ Friday, while France’s was downgraded from an AAA to an AA+. The DAX in Frankfurt fell 0.1 percent to 6,135.58. Standard & Poor’s had maintained Germany’s AAA rating Friday.
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Banking stocks led the falls, including Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays in London and Societé Generale and Credit Agricole in Paris.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo closed down 1.4 percent to 8,378.36, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong closed down 1 percent to 19,012.20.
The euro traded at $1.26 this morning, while the pound traded at $1.53.
Some stocks managed significant rises, including Benetton Group, which surged 9.7 percent to 3.11 euros; Mulberry Group, which rose 4.8 percent to 15.19 pounds; and Richemont, which rose 1.2 percent to 51.25 Swiss francs, following news of a 24 percent rise in the firm’s third-quarter sales figures.
Among the fallers were Hermés, down 0.7 percent to 250.35 euros; Safilo Group, which fell 0.7 percent to 4.49 euros; and Carrefour, down 0.6 percent to 16.67 euros.