ADVFN III Morning Euro Markets Bulletin
Daily world financial news from Thomson Financial News Supplied by advfn.com
02 Apr 2008 09:53:22
London
London shares flat early on after jump Tuesday; banks rise, miners fall
At 9.03 a.m., the FTSE 100 index was 4.7 points higher at 5,847.9 after closing up 150.5 points at 5,852.6 Tuesday. The FTSE 250 index lost 63.8 points at 10,272.4, reversing moderate opening gains.
Overnight, Wall Street took its lead from a strong rally in Europe, beginning the second quarter with a surge of almost 400 points as investors rushed back into stocks, optimistic that the worst of the credit crisis has passed and that the economy is faring better than expected.
Financial stocks were among the big winners after Lehman Brothers and Switzerland's UBS issued new shares to help bolster their balance sheets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 391.50 points ahead at 12,654.40, while the S&P 500 index added 47.48 to end at 1,370.18, and the Nasdaq Composite index closed up 83.65 at 2,362.75.
It was a similar story in Asia on Wednesday, with the Nikkei 225 index closing 4 percent higher, up 511.51 points at 13,167.93 and the Hang Seng index finishing 734.97 points stronger at 23,872.43.
In London, financials were again the dish of the day, with Barclays the top FTSE riser, 14 pence higher at 494, closely followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, up 9 at 370, Lloyds TSB, 2 ahead at 482-1/4, and HBOS, gaining 5-1/2 at 610.
Elsewhere, Xstrata bucked the trend that saw commodities stocks moving lower, taking on 14 pence at 3,488, after the CEO of its Brazilian suitor, Vale, said at a news conference that negotiations could resume between the two companies.
Xstrata was also helped by Citigroup resuming coverage of the mining group at 'buy' and lifting its price target to 4,500 pence from 4,000, saying it believes a future tie-up between the two groups remains a distinct possibility, but even without a deal it sees underlying value in Xstrata.
Broker comment also boosted AstraZeneca, which extended Tuesday's gains after another broker upgrade today. The shares added 26 pence at 2,040 after Citigroup upgraded the pharmaceutical firm to 'buy' from 'hold' saying a positive clinical trial result for cholesterol-lowering Crestor has led it to increase revenue forecasts.
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And the broker also said if AstraZeneca started to struggle, then it believes the likes of GlaxoSmithKline or Novartis could step in and acquire the company.
Glaxo rose by 11 pence at 1,125. On the downside, commodity plays were out of favour for a second session, led lower by Tullow Oil, 26 weaker at 629, with BG Group down 13 at 1,131 and Cairn Energy 61 lighter at 2,815.
BetOnMarkets.com said in a pre-opening note that it expects further weakness in the commodities sector as metals prices continue to retreat from recent highs, which the spread-bettor sees translating into weaker metal stocks.
Among the miners, Lonmin lost 84 pence at 2,912, Antofagasta fell back 9 at 681-1/2, Kazakhmys slipped 14 at 1,579 -- also under pressure as the stock trades ex-dividend. Outside the commodities sector, Amec eased 16-1/2 pence to 730 after the company said it has acquired project services company Rider Hunt International (RHI) from its owner-managers for 25 million pounds in cash.
And Tate & Lyle was out of favour after the sugar and sweetener producer reiterated its guidance that profits from continuing operations in the second half of the year will be "broadly similar" to that of the first six months, but said it now anticipates a reduction in pretax profit of about 11 million pounds for the year from exchange translation.
Panmure Gordon said Tate's statement contained no news apart from the confirmation that net debt has now risen to more 1 billion pounds. The broker said the stock looks expensive and reiterated its 'sell' advice.
Tate shares fell back 7-1/2 pence to 534. Severn Trent fell foul to profit taking, 18 pence lower at 1,450, after a strong run ahead of its trading statement, which said Wednesday that full-year performance to the end of March 2008 is in line with management expectations.
The UK water and sewerage company said profit before interest and tax for water and sewerage is expected to increase by between 10 percent and 12 percent on the 2006-2007 figure of 413 million pounds.
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On the second line, Talvivaara Mining Co topped the leaderboard with a 4.5 percent jump, up 17 pence at 391, after announcing mining started Tuesday at its Sotkamo site in Finland and that the project was achieved on time and on budget. The company expects to start metals production in the fourth quarter.
But there was more excitement on the downside, where Imperial Energy plummeted almost 21 percent, down 265 pence at 1,002 after announcing it has entered into an agreement with Hoare Govett and Merrill Lynch
International for a standby equity underwriting commitment of up to $600 million in an attempt to secure funding for the group's oil drilling programme until next year.
And Wellstream was another poor performer, 195 pence weaker at 1,205, as the shares came back from last week's record high, following a pre-close update that traders said were in line with expectations.
Wellstream posted a 64 percent rise in full year pretax pre-exceptional profit to 41.7 million pounds as revenues jumped 81 percent to 266.8 million pounds. The company said long-term industry fundamentals remain strong. holly.
UK Diary of Events:
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US Summary:
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Milan
Milan shares TFN market data at 9.45 a.m.: banks lead rebound; Fiat weak
Main indices:
Mibtel at 24,919 points, up 0.12 percent
S&P/Mib at 32,589 points, up 0.23 percent
Main S&P/Mib gainers
UniCredit SpA up 1.62 percent at 4.60 euros
STMicroelectronics NV up 1.44 percent at 7.20 euros
Banca Popolare di Milano Scrl up 1.46 percent at 7.59 euros
Mediolanum SpA up 1.45 percent at 4.09 euros
Unipol SpA up 1.05 percent at 2.03 euros
Main S&P/Mib losers
Italcementi SpA down 1.90 percent at 13.44 euros. CA Cheuvreux has downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'outperform' and lowered the price to 14 euros from 15 euros, saying it sees risks in Italy and emerging markets from rising fuel costs
Banco Popolare Scarl down 1.66 percent at 11.11
Luxottica SpA down 1.51 percent at 16.74 euros
Impregilo SpA down 1.34 percent at 3.45 euros
Fiat SpA down 1.59 percent at 14.37 euros after the transportation ministry announced an 18.76 percent fall in March new car registrations, with the Fiat group sales falling 20.06 percent, for a market share of 30.89 percent, up from 31.61 percent
Other stocks in the news
Lottomatica SpA up 0.83 percent at 20.64 euros. The betting group said its GTECH unit won a six-year contract to provide lottery technology and services to the Michingan Bureau of State Lottery in a deal that is expected to generate about $250 million revenues over the period of the contract
Alitalia SpA falls 3.77 percent to 0.51 euros and suspended limit down on continued uncertainty over its privatisation
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Paris
Paris shares TFN market data at 10.19am; banks continue their rally
Major indices:
CAC-40 up 10.54 points, or 0.22 percent, at 4,876.54
SBF-80 up 25.30, or 0.46 percent, at 5,566.00
SBF-120 up 8.22, or 0.23 percent, at 3,530.58.
19 CAC-40 stocks up
20 CAC-40 stocks down
1 CAC-40 stock unchanged
Major gainers:
BNP Paribas up 1.68, or 2.52 percent, at 69.46 and Credit Agricole up 0.47, or 2.22, at 21.68 as banking stocks continue their rally amid optimism that the worst of the credit crisis is over
Ciments Francais up 6.51, or 5.99 percent, at 115.21 after parent company Italcementi agreed to sell the group's Turkish activities to Russia's Sibirskiy Cement for 600 million euros
Schneider Electric up 0.87, or 1.04 percent, at 84.20
Major losers:
Dexia down 0.43, or 2.30 percent, at 18.30 after Merrill Lynch downgraded it to 'sell' from 'neutral' Air France-KLM down 0.44, or 2.28 percent, at 18.82; investors were taking profits after large gains Tuesday while Italian news agency Radiocor reported the same day that chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta is ready to make concessions to win union approval for its Alitalia takeover
ArcelorMittal down 1.27, or 2.45 percent, at 50.59
Most active stocks:
AXA up 0.28, or 1.14 percent, at 24.81 ; 3.1 million stocks traded STMicroelectronics up 0.12, or 1.69 percent, at 7.23 ; 2.5 million stocks traded
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Amsterdam
Amsterdam shares TFN market data at 9.46 am - AEX slightly lower
MAJOR INDICES
AEX 453.19 points, down 0.43 points, or 0.09 percent AMX 640.22 points, down 0.88 points, or 0.14 percent Government bonds mixed
MAJOR DECLINERS
Randstad down 0.21 percent to 28.96 euros after launching its offer for Vedior
Reed Elsevier down 1.43 percent to 12.39 euros
ArcelorMittal down 1.25 percent to 51.25 euros
ASMl down 0.61 percent to 16.30 euros
Vopak down 1.62 percent to 40.11 euros
MAJOR GAINERS
Aegon up 2.41 percent to 10.19 euros
Fortis up 1.09 percent to 16.66 euros
Vedior up 0.77 percent to 18.41 euros as Randstad launched its previosuly announced offer for the companyTomTom up 1.47 percent to 27.01 euros
Ahold up 0.42 percent to 9.62 euros as market researcher GfK said first-quarter supermarket sales rose 9.2 percent DSM up 0.71 percent to 31.36 euros
Forex
London 0839 GMT Hong Kong 1 p.m. (0500 GMT)
U.S. dollar
yen 101.77 down from 101.88
swiss franc 1.0116 down from 1.0128
Euro
U.S dollar 1.5615 up from 1.5591
pound 0.7881 unchanged 0.7881
yen 158.95 up from 158.84
swiss franc 1.5799 up from 1.5793
Sterling
U.S. dollar 1.9808 up from 1.9774
yen 201.67 up from 201.50
swiss franc 2.0039 up from 2.0031
Australian dollar
U.S. dollar 0.9083 up from 0.9075
pound 0.4585 down from 0.4587
yen 92.49 up from 92.47
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