German Stocks Drift Lower On China Worries

(RTTNews) - German stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with growing anxiety over China's economy, a slump in commodity prices and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's policy outlook weighing on investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, German lawmakers backed a third bailout package for Greece despite misgivings among some conservative lawmakers. Addressing the Bundestag ahead of the crucial vote, Germany's hardline finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stressed it would be irresponsible not to give the indebted nation another bailout package.

The euro strengthened against the dollar after data from the European Central Bank showed the euro area current account surplus increased for the first time in five months. The current account surplus rose to a 3-month high of 25.4 billion euros in June from 19.1 billion euros in May. On an unadjusted basis, the current account surplus surged to 31.1 billion euros from 4.3 billion euros in May.

Separately, figures from Eurostat showed that Eurozone Construction output fell a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent month-over-month in June, in contrast to a 0.2 percent increase in May.

The benchmark German DAX is currently down 119 points or 1.09 percent at 10,796.87, while France's CAC 40 index is declining 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is down 0.9 percent.

Banks are little changed while automakers BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler are down 1-2 percent.

Chemical producer BASF is losing 2 percent, semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies is moving down 1.4 percent and energy firm E.ON is down 1 percent.

Shares of Manz AG are up more than 2 percent. The engineering company said that it has received several follow-up orders worth about 10 million euros for the automated assembly of notebooks and other consumer electronic devices.

Residential property manager Deutsche Annington is down 1 percent despite posting solid first-half earnings.

Gesco is marginally lower after announcing a management rejig.

Elsewhere, the Asian markets turned in a mixed performance as Chinese stocks seesawed before closing sharply higher following another round of cash injection by People's Bank of China.

Japanese shares bore the brunt of the selling as official data showed the country's export growth slowed in July on the back of faltering demand in China and other key markets.

U.S. stock futures point to a slightly lower open as investors await the Fed minutes and U.S. inflation figures for fresh clues on whether the Federal Reserve will likely make its first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade next month.