Europe shares slip on Portugal debt downgrade

European shares edged down around midday on Wednesday, surrendering early gains after Fitch Ratings downgraded Portugal's sovereign rating, with banks among the worst performers.

By 1149 GMT (7:49 a.m. EDT), the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,069.93 points, after dropping as low as 1,064.65 soon after the Fitch announcement.

The pan-European index has gained around 65 percent since hitting a record low in March last year, but the market's sharp recovery from a dismal 2008 has lost steam over the past few months, and Europe's benchmark is up a meager 2.2 percent so far in 2010.

Read Full Article from Reuters

- Posted: 2010-03-24 10:36:12

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