• European shares traded flat on Wednesday
• Global trade concerns affecting tech stocks
• Danske Bank money laundering case intensifies

European stock markets traded mainly sideways yesterday amid continued concerns about international trade. Semi-conductor stocks fared particularly badly after China announced that Micron Technology will no longer be allowed to sell chips in that country.

The STOXX 600 pan-European share index closed nearly unchanged, while both the UK’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX dropped by 0.3%.

Trading has been rather choppy in the run-up to Friday, when the US plans to impose tariffs on Chinese goods worth around $34bn.

The fiasco has negatively impacted market sentiment during the last few weeks. The latest salvo in this trade war came when a Chinese court temporarily stopped Micron Technology from selling its chips in the country, which is the world’s biggest chip market.

Saxo Bank Equity Strategy Head Peter Garnry said: “The biggest risks to the technology sector are regulation and global semi-conductor disruption from an escalating trade war.”

Europe’s technology shares performed worse than any other sector, dropping by 1.4%. Infineon saw its share price decline by 1.8%, while chip manufacturer STMicro dropped by 3%.

Silicon wafer producer Siltronic’s share price dropped by 7%. Guidance cuts from Osram Licht and BE Semiconductor did nothing to improve sentiment in this market sector, which has now dropped by well over 9% since reaching a 17-year high in June.

Comet, a smaller Swiss company involved in radio frequency and x-ray technology, saw its share price drop by 20% after issuing a profit/sales warning for 2018.

Danske Bank also saw its share price drop by 2% after a report emerged with new information about its money laundering case in Estonia. Group Compliance Manager Anders Meinert Jorgensen acknowledged that the extent of this case now seems to be bigger than previously reported.

Meanwhile, utilities increased by 0.6% and telecoms rose by 1.8%.