Oil majors slide as crude dives
Defensives post small losses
Mowi falls after share placing

June 22 Reuters European stocks hit fresh oneyear lows on Wednesday as a fall in oil and metal prices hurt commodityrelated stocks, while surging UK inflation revived worries about slowing global growth.

Global equities stabilised in the past two sessions after a volatile selloff last week on fears that aggressive tightening measures by central banks to tame inflation will cause a sharp economic downturn.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 fell 1.7 to hit a fresh low since February 2021, following a threeday rally.

Oil gas index tumbled 3.7 as oil prices dived by more than 6 a barrel amid a push by U.S. President Joe Biden to cut fuel costs for drivers. 

Miners fell 4.1 as metal prices were dragged down by a robust U.S. dollar and fears over a global economic slowdown. Defensive telecoms and food beverage stocks fell the least.

The markets need to digest a new monetary environment, and potentially a growth slowdown in the next couple of quarters, and that never bodes well for equity markets, said Maarten Geerdink, head of European equities at NN Investment Partners.

Fundamentally, some of the companies look extremely attractive and some people are willing to reengage in the long term but at the same time there are worries about tighter monetary policy and slowing growth.

A combination of surging inflation, tighter monetary policies, the Ukraine war and a slowdown in China39;s…