San Francisco Frontiers - European stocks drop, pound recovers

German inflation accelerated sharply in September, official data showed Thursday in the latest indication that Europe's biggest economy is buckling under the pressure from soaring energy prices.

Consumer prices spiked 10.0 percent compared to the same month a year earlier.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the nation would plough 200 billion euros ($194 billion) into shielding households and businesses from skyrocketing energy costs in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

However, Frankfurt stocks accelerated losses to shed 1.6 percent in value, while Paris showed a similar drop.

London equities fell as the pound rebounded somewhat from earlier falls, one day after the BoE snapped up UK bonds to avert a risk to UK financial stability.

The BoE, the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve and many other counterparts are ratcheting up interest rates to fight decades-high inflation.

Oil prices dropped on the strong dollar, which makes US-priced commodities more expensive for buyers using weaker units.

- 'Pessimistic' investors -

"There's a growing list of reasons why investors are pessimistic right now, with the prospect of an interest-rate recession being right up there," Craig Erlam, analyst at trading platform OANDA, told AFP.

"But we are increasingly seeing pressures mounting and forcing responses from policymakers that are not normal. That started out as super-sized rate hikes, and now includes Japanese foreign-exchange interventions and the BoE intervening in bond markets."

Stocks had also rallied Wednesday partly after the BoE's surprise purchase, which came after Britain's recent tax-cutting budget sparked soaring bond yields and sent the pound to a record dollar low on Monday.

The BoE launched a two-week programme to buy long-term UK bonds, capped initially at £65 billion ($71 billion), as UK pension funds scrambled to sell investments to remain solvent.

Despite falling equities, the UK bond market was further soothed on Thursday.

The UK government's 30-year sovereign bond yield retreated further to 3.97 percent, having briefly surged Wednesday to a 1998 peak at 5.14 percent.

Meanwhile, sentiment was also dented this week by leaks from the undersea Nord Stream pipelines running from Russia to Europe.

That sparked accusations of sabotage amid strained relations between the West and sanctions-hit Russia over the latter's war on Ukraine.

- Key figures at around 1210 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.2 percent at 6,922.60 points

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 1.6 percent at 11,985.83

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.4 percent at 5,683.07

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 1.5 percent at 3,284.01

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 26,422.05 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.5 percent at 17,165.87

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,041.20 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 1.9 percent at 29,683.74 (close)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.0844 from $1.0689 on Wednesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $0.9710 from $0.9735

Euro/pound: UP at 89.53 pence from 89.40 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 144.70 yen from 144.16 yen

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.1 percent at $89.37 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $82.28 per barrel

burs-rfj/lth

M.Powell--SFF