CAC 40 Tumbles On Brexit Worries

(RTTNews) - French shares tumbled on Tuesday as risk-off sentiment continues to haunt investors. Two ICM polls, one online and one conducted by telephone, showed on Monday that Britain appears poised to leave the European Union with just over a week to go before referendum day.

The British pound hovered near a two-month low and yields on the 10-year government debt of Germany dipped below zero for the first time ever, reflecting growing anxiety over the prospect of the U.K. exiting the European Union.

Amid lack of positive triggers, investors await monetary policy decisions from the Fed, the Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan this week for further direction.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 63 points or 1.50 percent at 4,163 in late opening deals after declining 1.9 percent in the previous session.

Stocks pared some early losses after Eurostat figures showed Eurozone industrial output rose for the first time in three months during April, aided by a surge in the output of durable consumer goods.

Industrial production rose 1.1 percent from the previous month when it fell by revised 0.7 percent. Production was forecast to expand 0.8 percent. On a yearly basis, growth in industrial output improved to 2 percent, beating forecasts for 1.4 percent growth.

Meanwhile, Eurozone employment increased at a stable pace for the second straight quarter in the three months ended March. The number of employed persons grew 0.3 percent sequentially in the first quarter, the same rate of rise as in the previous two quarters.

Banks traded mostly lower, with Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale Group losing about 2 percent each.

Among other prominent decliners, Accor, Air Liquide, Carrefour, Vinci, Bouygues, Total SA, Kering, LafargeHolcim, L'Oreal, Orange, Renault, Sanofi, Technip and Peugeot dropped 1-3 percent.