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European utilities slide as investors rearrange after Fed cuts

The European utilities sector slid on Thursday, as financiers moved to less defensive stocks after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rate of interest by 50 basis points on Wednesday.

The STOXX 600 Utilities Index, which tracks the performance of European utility business, taped a 1.8% drop as of 0408 GMT. While many sectors were trading higher amongst the continent-wide STOXX 600 index, up 1.4%, the energies and telecoms sectors did not follow the basic bullish pattern.

The 2 primary European utilities, Spain's Iberdrola and Italy's Enel, fell 1.3% and 1.7%, respectively. Engie, falling 2.2%, bottomed out France's CAC40 index, up 2.3%. Germany's largest power manufacturer RWE , falling 3.8%, led losses in the DAX index, up 1.6%.

It is the defensive aspect of the energies that is being sentenced. Through a sector rotation effect, financiers are moving far from defensive stocks towards more cyclical ones, CIC analyst Arnaud Palliez said.

Thursday's losses could also be discussed by the normalization of power costs, that have been receding over the last couple of days, stated Morning Star analyst Tancrede Fulop.

(source: Reuters)