Europe's stocks end week in negative terrain

Financial and retail stocks led European equity markets lower on Friday, erasing all the gains of the previous session. A warning from broker Goldman Sachs suggested that European banks may need to raise between €60bn to €90bn to keep their capital ratios at current levels as credit market conditions worsened. The broker made a swathe of price target cuts and lowered its recommendations on Swedbank, which fell 5.7 per cent to SKr111.75, and Santander, down 4.3 per cent to €11.34. Rising fears that emerging markets will not remain disconnected from the global economic malaise hit those banks with exposure. Austria’s Raiffeisen International and Erste Bank, both with significant holdings in central and eastern Europe fell 7.2 per cent to €77.10 and 7.6 per cent to €37.62. The benchmark pan-European index ended down 1.2 per cent... [read full story]