European shares trade flat with global trade worries weighing on tech stocks
London — European shares traded flat on Wednesday as worries over global trade persisted, with sentiment towards semi-conductor stocks, in particular, souring after Micron Technology was banned from selling chips in China. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed flat with Germany’s exporter-heavy DAX and the UK’s FTSE 100 falling both 0.3%. Trading has been choppy before a July 6 deadline when the US is set to impose tariffs on $34bn worth of goods from China. The tit-for-tat saga has hit market sentiment in recent weeks. News that a Chinese court temporarily banned Micron Technology from selling chips in China, the world’s biggest memory chip market, hit semi-conductor stocks. "The biggest risks to the technology sector are regulation and global semi-conductor disruption from an escalating trade war," Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, said. Europe’s tech sector fell 1.4%, the worst sectoral performance. Chip maker STMicro was down 3% and Infineon 1.8%. Silicon waf...
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