Traders work in front of the DAX board at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange yesterday. The DAX 30 ended the day down 0.2% at 11,293.76 points.

Reuters
London

A leading European share index, FTSEurofirst 300, retreated from a three-month high yesterday, hit by a drop in shares of mining companies after a slump in Chinese equities. Anticipation of further stimulus by the European Central Bank next week helped to cushion the fall.
The FTSEurofirst 300 ended down 0.26% at 1,512.32, after posting its highest close since August on Thursday. Mining stocks fell the most, declining 2.7%. China, the world’s biggest consumer of metals, saw stocks slide over 5% after a regulatory crackdown and deteriorating industrial profits data.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 6,375.15 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was down 0.2% at 11,293.76 and Paris’ CAC 40 was down 0.3% at 4,930.14 at close.
Anglo American led the FTSEurofirst 300 decline, falling 8.2% after shutting down an Australian coal mine.
In foreign exchange activity, the euro remained under pressure over stimulus speculation.
The shared eurozone unit slid to $1.0576 on Friday having briefly rebounded mid-week after hitting a seven-month low at $1.0566.
Some investors worried markets would see a repeat of events this past August, when China let its currency fall and jolted equities globally. Others said that might be less likely if the yuan joined the IMF’s reserve basket next week.
“Miners are suffering from China and a stronger US dollar outlook. There is clearly a risk that China will try and devalue the currency further, but there is less risk of that compared to earlier in the year,” said Ankit Gheedia, equity and derivative strategist at BNP Paribas.
“(However) Europe is still trading on the ECB next week, which is why the market is relatively resilient.”
Bets the ECB will extend or increase its quantitative easing programme next week helped to spur the FTSEurofirst 300 to Thursday’s three-month highs.
Belgian bank KBC rose 2.6% after disclosing new capital requirements from the ECB.
Altice extended gains over the last two sessions to more than 10%. A Reuters report that it had won rights to show English Premier League soccer in France was confirmed shortly after the market closed on Thursday.
“The reaction to the Chinese sell-off... in European stock markets has been limited,” noted CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
In the eurozone, an index of executive and consumer confidence stood at 106.1 in November, the European Commission said, while October’s reading was revised to the same level.
The figures are the strongest since May 2011 and stoked hopes of encouraging fourth-quarter economic growth in the euro area—but failed to dispel speculation of more stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB) next week, dealers said.