European Shares Higher; Miners Gain
Published: Wednesday, 3 Feb 2010 | 7:46 AM ET By: Reuters
European shares were slightly higher at midday on Wednesday, extending a winning run to four sessions, with miners rising on stronger metals prices as Greece's deficit woes continued to worry some investors.
Major European IndexesGB;FTSE5279.92-3.39-0.06%536,860,011CAC40-FR3809.35-2.78-0.07%50,436,991DAX-XE5698.6-11.06-0.19%58,209,832
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.2 percent at 1,029.11 points. Miners rose on stronger metals prices as Greece's deficit woes continued to worry some investors.
The index is up more than 59 percent from a lifetime low it hit last March, with several major economies having emerged from recession.
Greece's National Bank, EFG Eurobank, Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank rose between 1.5 and 4.8 percent.
But investors continue to worry about Greece needing to be bailed out by other EU members, one factor that contributed to the benchmark index losing more than 3 percent in January.
"The positives outweigh the negatives. We expect equity markets to resume their uptrend," said Tammo Greetfeld, equity strategist at UniCredit Group.
"We think the positive economic backdrop is intact. And earnings so far, such as Nokia, and the dividend announcements have been positive. But there are several risk factors, such as Greece's deficit," Greetfeld said.
Miners extended the previous session's gains, supported by stronger metals prices. Anglo American, [AAL-LN 2474.50 18.50 (+0.75%)] BHP Billiton, [BLT-LN 1949.00 2.00 (+0.1%)] Kazakhmys, [KAZ-LN 1341.00 10.00 (+0.75%)] Rio Tinto, [RIO-LN 3299.50 8.50 (+0.26%)] Vedanta and Xstrata [XTA-LN 1101.50 5.50 (+0.5%)] rose between 0.9 and 2.4 percent.
Oils, too, were stronger with crude prices back above $77 a barrel.
Gainers included Total up 0.5 percent. BP [BP-LN 578.30 6.30 (+1.1%)] rose 1.1 percent, making up a little of the ground it lost on Tuesday following badly received results.
Pharmaceuticals provided much of the downside. Roche fell 1.9 percent after its 2009 profit just missed expectations with a 10 percent rise. The Swiss drugmaker, however, confirmed its forecast for double-digit profit growth this year.
AstraZeneca [AZN-LN 2837.00 -94.00 (-3.21%)] shed 3.3 percent as shares traded ex-dividend and sentiment was knocked by concerns it may soon release negative clinical trials results for its experimental bowel cancer drug Recentin.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 added between 0.2 and 0.4 percent Shares drew some support from a rally on Wall Street overnight, on data showing rising sales of previously owned homes and better-than-expected earnings.
Later in the session, investors' attention will turn to the U.S. ADP national private sector employment report for January, ahead of Friday's non-farm payroll numbers for December, for fresh clues on the health of the economy.
Scania Motors Higher
Among individual companies, Sweden's Scania AB rose 8.8 percent after it reported a smaller in decline in profit than analysts had expected, helped by cost cuts and a stabilizing truck market.
Rival Volvo, which reports on Friday, rose 2.9 percent.
Shares in Electrolux sank 13.6 percent after the Swedish white goods giant posted a fourth quarter core profit that undershot market expectations and said it sees no sign of a strong recovery in 2010.
Some macro data on Wednesday suggesting consumer demand remains weak and the economic recovery fragile.
Euro zone retail sales were flat in December, traditionally one of the busiest months of the year.
The euro zone's dominant service sector expanded at a slower pace in January than in the previous month as a country divergence widened but firms grew more optimistic about the year ahead, Markit's final Eurozone Services Purchasing Managers' Index showed.
Copyright 2010 Reuters.
