European stocks end down on Fed action fears

European stocks ended down on Monday on fears the Fed will begin cutting monetary stimulus as encouraging eurozone manufacturing numbers failed to impress markets, traders said. London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed down 0.88 percent to 6,525.12 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dropped 0.76 percent to 8,285.80 points, and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.71 percent to finish at 3,920.67 points. Milan closed down 0.91 percent Madrid slid 0.44 percent. "Traders continue to concern themselves with the likely impact if stimulus provided by Fed asset purchases is prematurely withdrawn," said Lex Young, a senior sales trader at CMC Markets UK. "Small beats on PMI data across Europe this morning failed to inspire much change to the generally cautious mood, as the 'all news is good news' mantra has taken an about turn over the past 2 weeks." The Markit Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index rose to a 15-month high of 48.3 in May, up from an initial reading for the month of 47.8 and compared with a four-month low of 46.7 in April. The index however remained below the boom-and-bust line of 50 points, indicating that the sector continued to contract overall for a 22nd consecutive month. The euro rosed to $1.3092 from $1.2996 late in New York on Friday. The dollar slipped to 99.20 yen from 100.37 yen on Friday. On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold climbed to finish at $1,402.50 an ounce from $1,394.50 on Friday. Asian equity markets ended lower on Monday, with Tokyo plunging 3.72 percent to a six-week low after downbeat Chinese manufacturing data and a sharp drop on Wall Street last week, traders said. HSBC bank said Chinese manufacturing activity fell to an eight-month low in May. The lender's final purchasing managers' index (PMI) reading for May came in at 49.2, worse than the preliminary 49.6 announced on May 23. The result was in sharp contrast to the Chinese government's PMI result for May, which came in at 50.8, better than April's 50.6, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday. US stocks traded mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging up 0.17 percent, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.48 percent and tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 0.90 percent. The latest data on US manufacturing was downbeat. The Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers index (PMI) on US manufacturing unexpectedly slumped into contraction territory in May, at 49.0, down from a growth reading of 50.7 in April. Eyes were also turning towards a series of key US economic statistics due later in the week, and policy meetings of the European Central Bank and Bank of England. The car sector was meanwhile in focus as data on Monday revealed that new car registrations in France, a key indicator of the country's economic health, dropped sharply in May, with Renault and Citroen the worst affected. A total of 148,554 new cars were registered last month, a 10.3-percent drop compared to the same period in 2012, according to statistics published by France's industry group for automakers, CCFA. Renault shares ended the day down 2.09 percent at 58.51 euros on the Paris stock exchange.