London - Gains in European stocks were short-lived as bank
shares slumped and miners and energy producers tracked losses in crude prices.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.1 percent at 3:24 p.m.
in London, erasing an earlier advance of as much as 0.5 percent. Lenders
followed US peers lower after JPMorgan Chase & Co. said revenue from its
trading businesses declined in the second quarter. Disappointing US housing data also weighed on investor
sentiment.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 Index jumped as much as 0.8 percent
to an intraday record before trading 0.2 percent higher. Ahead of next week’s
general election in the country, a Panelbase poll conducted May 19-23 showed
the Tories getting 48 percent of the vote and the Labour Party winning 33
percent.
Read also: European shares ease, Unicredit boosts Italian banks
An earlier YouGov Plc study projected the ruling party would
fall short of a majority, spurring a slump in sterling. Miners were the biggest
losers among Stoxx 600 industry groups amid a slump in iron-ore prices.
Energy shares extended this year’s worst performance. Among
shares active on corporate news, Ericsson AB shares climbed 5.2 percent after
activist investment firm Cevian Capital AB bought a stake in the company, a
move that may see a push for it to accelerate cost-cutting at underperforming
businesses.