European markets to open lower as U.S. imposes sanctions on Iran

European markets are set to open lower Tuesday after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran over the shooting down of an unmanned American drone last week.

The FTSE 100 is seen around 28 points down at 7,390, the DAX is expected to open around 47 points lower at 12,228 and the CAC 40 looks set for a 19 point drop to 5,503, according to IG data.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order imposing “hard-hitting” new sanctions on Iran, which NBC News reported will deny Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office access to key financial resources.

Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s G-20 summit in Japan amid the ongoing trade war between the two nations.

Asian stocks slipped during Tuesday afternoon trade, mainland Chinese stocks leading the declines as the Shenzhen component and composite fell 2.12% and 2.04% respectively, while the Shanghai composite shed 1.82%.

Back in Europe, the favorite to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson, reiterated his threat to take the U.K. out of the European Union in October with or without agreeing a deal with the bloc.

In corporate news, Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa said Tuesday that the carmaker will postpone talks with French partner Renault on deepening their alliance, instead focusing on its own recovery.

French consultancy Capgemini on Monday announced an agreement to buy engineering and digital services company Altran for 3.6 billion euros ($4.10 billion) to tap into the fast-growing engineering outsourcing services market.

The merger announcement comes ahead of the publication of French business confidence data at 07.45 a.m. CET.

Source: CNBC

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