EUROPE

Stocks declined yesterday after rallying the most in more than three weeks on Monday as companies from Alstom to Erste Group Bank sold shares.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.3 percent to 271.62 after earlier rising as much as 0.4 percent and falling as much as 0.7 percent.

Alstom sank 4.9 percent after selling a 350 million (R3.7 billion) holding. Erste Group fell 2.8 percent after the bank’s largest shareholder sold a 235m stake. PostNL added 4.4 percent after the postal company said it would increase rates next year.

“It’s a difficult period for investors to place bets,” Manulife Asset Management head of European equities David Hussey said. “The global economy is going to recover, it’s just going to take a while. In the long term, we are bullish on equities, but that is really long term. In the interim, we will continue to have this horrible tradingrange type mentality.” – Bloomberg