European Shares Fall On Brexit Uncertainty, Virus Worries

European stocks fell sharply on Monday, as a deadlock on fishing rights in Britain's waters continued to stall negotiations about a Brexit trade deal and a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain shut down much of the United Kingdom and disrupted international freight.

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 8 points, or 1.9 percent, to 388.34 after losing 0.4 percent on Friday. The German DAX lost 2.2 percent, France's CAC 40 index shed 2.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.3 percent.

The British pound plunged as much as 2 percent after another missed deadline in Brexit trade talks.

Travel-related stocks were among the worst hit as Canada as well as European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, ordered a suspension of flights from Britain.

More than 16 million Britons are now required to stay at home as a full lockdown came into force in London and the southeast of England.

Lufthansa, Air France KLM, TUI AG, IAG and EasyJet plummeted 5-9 percent.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield shares gave up 8 percent. The company said it reached separate agreements with several French institutional investors to sell the Village 3 office building and the Village 4 & Village 6 office buildings for the total net disposal price of 213 million euros.

United Internet declined 3.3 percent after it announced a voluntary public takeover offer for Tele Columbus AG by Equity Management GmbH, a bidding company of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, of 3.25 euros per Tele Columbus share.

Alstom gave up 2.4 percent. A consortium comprising Bombardier Transportation and Alstom has received a new order to supply 204 double-deck M7-type multifunctional coaches to the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges (SNCB).

Oil stocks were coming under selling pressure, with BP Plc losing 4.7 percent and Tullow Oil falling as much as 8.7 percent.

Royal Dutch Shell lost about 4 percent. The company said it will write down $3.5 to $4.5 billion in the value of oil and gas assets in 2021.

Telecommunications company Vodafone declined 2.3 percent after saying it has ended talks to sell its Egyptian business to Saudi Telecom Co.

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