Trade tensions send European shares to six-month lows

By Danilo Masoni and Kit Rees

MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell to six-month lows on Friday after Donald Trump said the United States would impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, prompting worries about a global trade war.

Such concerns sparked a broad sell-off in Europe, weighing particularly on the export-oriented German DAX index, which fell 2.3 percent to a six-month low.

The broader pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) benchmark was down 2.1 percent, surpassing a low hit in early February during a brutal sell-off in global equities, also hitting a six-month low.

Trump said duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium would be formally announced next week, sparking concerns about retaliatory moves from major trade partners such as China, Europe and neighbouring Canada.

"Markets are spooked more by the aggressiveness of the message and by its potential of sparking an extended trade war rather than just by the scope of the measures' economic impact," said JCI Capital fund manager Alessandro Balsotti, noting how steel and aluminium account for just 2 percent of U.S. imports.

All sectors were trading in negative territory, with autos (.SXAP) down 2.3 percent, weighed down by a near-6 percent slump in Italian-American car maker Fiat Chrysler (FCHA.MI) on concerns that the U.S. tariff move could increase its raw material costs.

Elsewhere, Germany's Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and BMW (BMWG.DE) and France's Peugeot (PEUP.PA) fell between 1.6 to 2.4 percent.

Steel and aluminium stocks were also generally lower, with ArcelorMittal (MT.AS), Salzgitter (SZGG.DE) and Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL) all down 0.9 to 5.2 percent.

Trump officially has until April 11 to announce his final decision and an analyst at Jefferies said they expected the final policy to be more nuanced due to a mounting pushback from domestic steel consumers and foreign steel suppliers.

They said it still remained unclear which countries and products would be targeted by the measures.

Swedish radiation therapy equipment maker Elekta (EKTAb.ST), up 13.2 percent, led gainers on the STOXX after it reported above-forecast earnings, while IMI (IMI.L) dropped 8.5 percent as its trading update disappointed.

The STOXX ended the week down 3.7 percent ahead of events this Sunday in Italy and Germany that could raise new jitters over the political future of Europe, as Brexit talks with the UK continue.

Italy is holding a general election, and Germany's SPD party will announce the result of a member's poll on a deal to renew a "grand coalition" government with Angela Merkel's conservatives following an inconclusive election last year.

So far this year Italy's benchmark index (.FTMIB) has managed just a 0.3 percent gain, while Germany's DAX is down 7.8 percent.

"The FTSE MIB is one of the worst performing markets in Europe ahead of Sunday’s general election in Italy," David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said.

"Political opinion is divided in the country, and the polls are pointing to no clear winner. The markets are essentially pricing in a hung parliament."

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni and Kit Rees; Editing by Mark Heinrich)