European Indexes Higher Ahead of Portugal Vote; Inditex Surges

Arthi Gupta
23 Mar, 2011
New York City

The European indexes traded higher on optimism of global economic recovery. Portugal''''s Parliament holds a crucial vote today to cut its budget deficit. Technip won engineering contract from Chevron Indonesia. Commerzbank planned to integrate Deutsche Schiffsbank.

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – The European indexes traded higher on optimism of global economic recovery. Portugal's Parliament holds a crucial vote today to cut its budget deficit. Technip won engineering contract from Chevron Indonesia. Commerzbank planned to integrate Deutsche Schiffsbank.[/R]

Portugal government is likely to fall if the Prime minister fails to pass the austerity measures later in the afternoon. Austerity measures are expected to be rejected to by the opposition party. Portugal is expected to seek debt bailout from the European Union if the austerity measures fail.

Engineers at Japan's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant are unable to connect power to one of four damaged reactors according to Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday officially identified 14 subsidiary companies of the Libyan National Oil Corporation as subject to a ban on U.S. businesses, prohibiting any dealings with them.

The move follows several other financial steps to pressure Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi, including freezing more than $32 billion in assets from the government, Qadhafi's personal assets as well as those of his family and senior government officials and at least 16 other companies.

Reports suggest that the rebels have been unable to make progress to dislodge Qadhafi's forces from the key junction of Ajdabiyah in the east.

""We will not surrender and will defeat them by any means. Western powers pounding Libya's defenses will wind up in the dustbin of history,"" media reports quoted Qadhafi as saying after four days of coalition air strikes.

In Paris CAC-40 index gained 8.19 or 0.21% to 3,900.90 and in Frankfurt DAX index edged lower 9.33 or 0.14% to 6,771.64.

Technip Wins Contract from Chevron Indonesia

Technip SA, the oil and gas services provider said it received a front-end engineering design contract for two floating production units located offshore Indonesia in the Gendalo and Gehem fields at water depths of 3,500 to 6,000 feet. The contract was awarded by Chevron Indonesia Company Ltd.

The company noted that the contract, which covers the hull, topsides, mooring systems and steel catenary risers of the two floating production units, will be executed by Technip's operating centers in Jakarta, Indonesia and Houston, Texas.

Commerzbank Integrates Deutsche Schiffsbank

Commerzbank AG, the German financial services provider plans to integrate Deutsche Schiffsbank, one of the world's leading ship financiers. It intends to merge the Hamburg-based Deutsche Schiffsbank into Commerzbank AG.

Colgate-Palmolive Buys Sanex from Unilever

Colgate-Palmolive Co. agreed to buy the Sanex personal care brand from Unilever Plc for €672 million or approximately $940 million. The acquisition would greatly strengthen Colgate's personal care business in Europe.

Gainers & Losers

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG rose 2.03% to €55.70 after the luxury car maker has been upgraded to “outperform” from “market perform” by Sanford C. Bernstein.

Celesio AG dipped 0.86% to €17.21 after the German drug distributor reported fiscal year 2010 annual revenues grew about 8% to €23.28 billion from €21.50 billion a year earlier. For the year 2010, net profit surged to €265 million or 1.52 euros per share compared to €6.5 million or 0.02 euros per share in 2009.

Hannover Rueckversicherung AG fell 1.48% to €38.15 after the reinsurance company said it now expects loss expenditure in the order of €250 million from the Japan earthquake, after retrocessions and before taxes.

Inditex SA surged 5.61% to €57.03 after the Spanish fashion distributor said fourth quarter profit rose 15% to €553 million from €483 million in the corresponding period a year earlier on sales that rose 19% to €3.66 billion.

Mediaset SpA declined 0.27% to €4.50 after the Italy-based commercial television group said its net profit for 2010 rose 29% to $501 million on higher advertising sales in Italy and Spain.

Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG decreased 0.41% to €109.55 after the world's biggest reinsurer, said its 2011 profit target of around €2.4 billion is no longer achievable in the wake of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Novartis AG gained 0.63% to $54.73 after the Swiss healthcare giant said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the regulatory review period for its new drug application for QAB149 to July 2011.

Patrizia Immobilien AG dropped 2.49% to €4.93 after the provider of real-estate investment and services reported fiscal year 2010 revenue soared 35.4% to €339.59 million from €250.89 million in the previous year, helped by increased property sales.

For the full-year 2010, net profit was €6.25 million or 0.12 euros per share, reversing a net loss of €9.50 million or 0.18 euros per share a year ago.

UniCredit SpA increased 1.48% to €1.78 after the Italian bank reported fourth quarter net income dipped 13.5% to €321 million from €371 million a year earlier.