Credit Suisse loss weighs on European shares (Reuters) (24-04-2008)

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - European shares declined on Thursday, led by writedown losses reported from Credit Suisse and a bearish update from Barclays.

An optimistic note regarding the resilience of the corporate environment was given from a number of European large caps including ABB and Bayer, which beat forecasts.

Banks continued to push stocks down across the board, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which earlier in the week unveiled a record $12 billion rights issue, while Barclays said first-quarter profits fell from a year earlier.

RBS and Barclays shares were among the top individual drags on the market, falling by 3.5 and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Credit Suisse, meanwhile, revealed $5.3 billion in credit-related writedowns, which was roughly in line with market expectations, although this did produce a bigger-than-expected loss. Its shares pared early gains to trade down 1.1 percent.

Source Reuters