European equities closed lower on Tuesday after a sharp decline on Japan's stock market sent shock-waves around global markets, as production in industry contracted in Germany and as commodities stocks continued to be battered by sliding oil prices .
Japan's benchmark index, the Nikkei 225, closed 5.40% lower on Tuesday while many Asian stock markets remained closed for the week as the Lunar New Year is celebrated. China's stock market will be shut all week while exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea were closed on Tuesday.
In macro-economic news, production in industry in Germany was down by 1.2% in December 2015 from the previous month, according to provisional data published by the Federal Statistic Office Destatis. The German statistics office also unveiled results showing that the country's manufacturing sector saw turnover rise by 1.8% in December 2015 compared with November 2015.
And, West Texas Intermediate crudeoil futures priceremained below $30 per barrel for much of the main trading session after a report published by the International Energy Agency forecast oil demand growth would "ease back considerably in 2016".
Having peaked at a five-year high of 1.6 million barrels per day in 2015, the IEA's report projected that it would slide to 1.2 million barrels per day this year, pulled down by notable slowdowns in Europe, China and the US.
Current oil prices are worth around one third of the value they traded at one and a half years ago. The market has been dogged by oversupply which shows little signs of stopping in the short-to-medium term future.
In equities, commodities stocks dominated the decliners on London's FTSE 100 Index, with Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore sliding by 9.4%, 11.3% and 8.1%, respectively
On the DAX, car-maker energy company RWE fell 4.5%, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank declined 4.4% and 4.3%, respectively and E.on, another energy company, fell 3.7%.
And, on the CAC-40, steel maker ArcelorMittal fell 10.8%, management, engineering and construction firm Technp fell 5.0%, building materials company Lafargeholcim closed down 4.9%. Financial services companies Credit Agricole and Societe General slumped by 4.5% and 4.4%, respectively.
The FTSE 100 closed 1.00% lower, the DAX contracted by 1.11% and the CAC-40 ended down 1.69%.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
