Europe Sheds Early Gains

Ivaylo
25 May, 2006
Frankfurt

New York closed up on Wednesday reflecting investors

[R]6:30AM European shares plunge after initial gains.[/R]
On the corporate front Euronext stocks were down 4.5%, following the announcement of Atticus, which has 9% of the operator, to leave with the management to decide which the best offer was. That impacted negatively hopes of a higher bid placed by Atticus. Deutsche Börse was down 4.4%, after it said that it would improve its offer but would not overpay. Danone advanced 2.2%, on the brokerage front, after Merill Lynch added the company to its Europe 1 Focus List on valuation basis. ProSiebenSat.1 advanced 2.6% after Deutsche Bank raised the broadcaster’s level from “hold” to “buy”.

Crude oil dipped 20 cents to settle at $70.06 a barrel by 0535 GMT, after shedding $1.90 or 2.7 % on Wednesday. London Brent crude advanced 13 cents to $69.35. Gold gained on Thursday after plunging in U.S. trade, with bargain-hunters and physical buyers slowly moving into the market on dollar frailty. Spot gold advanced to $647.30 an ounce before slipping to $644.90/645.70 by 0933 GMT, against $639.20/640.00 late in New York on Wednesday. The dollar rose against the euro. The euro bought $1.2761 in morning European trading, down from $1.2773 in New York late Wednesday. The British pound fell to $1.8687 from $1.8717. The dollar was virtually unchanged against the Japanese currency, edging up to 112.71 yen from 112.69 yen.

[R]5:00AM Gold and silver drop again on profit taking and stronger dollar.[/R]
June gold dropped $36.20 to close at $637.50 an ounce. July silver shed 65.5 cents to finish at $12.515 an ounce. July copper lost 24.65 cents to settle at $3.64 per pound. July crude oil declined $1.90 to finish at $69.86 a barrel. June gasoline fell 9.33 cents to close at $2.1567 a gallon. July Arabica coffee futures finished 1.6 cents lower at 99.8 cents a pound. Raw sugar in foreign ports futures for July closed down 0.41 cent at 16.21 cents a pound while October shed 0.44 cent to 16.44 cents a pound.