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June 18 (Reuters) - Worries over the Middle East and another
chip sector warning on trade pressured European shares on
Tuesday, ahead of a key two-day Federal Reserve meeting which
traders expect to clear the way for a cut in interest rates.
The United States on Monday announced the deployment of
about 1,000 more troops, citing concerns about a threat from
Iran and stirring nerves on financial markets already concerned
by the ramping up of trade tensions with China. German chipmaker Siltronic WAFGn.DE tumbled 8% after it
was the latest to warn U.S. restrictions on exports to China
would hurt business, saying Q2 sales would be "significantly
below" the first quarter and were likely to decline further.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 0.17% by 0708
GMT, with Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE outperforming with a 0.2%
rise.
The profit warning comes hot on the heels of U.S. chipmaker
Broadcom's shock statement last Thursday that trade issues would
knock $2 billion off 2019 sales.
Another German chipmaker Infineon Technologies IFXGn.DE
and STMicroelectronics STM.MI , dropped 5.8% and 2.2%
respectively, pulling the technology sector .SX8P 0.8% lower.
Infineon's move, however, came after it launched a 1.5
billion euro capital increase to help fund its acquisition of
Cypress Semiconductor.