Morning Report 22 Feb 22: European markets retreat in response to latest Russian developments

European sharemarkets fell on Monday. Reuters reported the Kremlin as saying that there were no concrete plans for a summit over Ukraine between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, after the French president said the two leaders had agreed on a meeting in principle. President Putin told French and German leaders that he planned to recognise two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine - and President Putin carried out those plans in the US afternoon. Technology shares fell the most, down by 2.6%. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell by 1.3% to a 4-month low. The German Dax index lost 2.1% and the UK FTSE index eased by 0.4%. In London trade, shares in Rio Tinto rose by 0.7% while shares in BHP fell by 0.5%.                  

US sharemarkets were closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. On Friday, the Dow Jones index closed down by 233 points or 0.7%. The S&P 500 index lost 0.7% with the Nasdaq index dropping 169 points or 1.2%.

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