Europe Recuperates On Telecoms Stocks

Ivaylo
31 May, 2006
Frankfurt

European market recovered early losses Wednesday as banks and oil stocks reversed the downtrend, helped also by strength in telecoms stocks, which have exhibited defensive qualities during market volatility recently. By mid morning London

[R]6:30AM Oil, banks and telecoms help Europe reverse into profit.[/R]
European markets rose by mid morning. London’s FTSE 100 recouped 0.5% to 5,679.5 , Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax edged up 0.2% to 5,633.39 and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.1% to 4,896.27. On the corporate front, the telecom sector performed robustly. France Telecom rose 2.3% and Dutch operator KPN advanced 1.6%. Telecom Italia gained 1.6% while Spain’s Telefonica climbed 1.5%. Steel shares remained closely watched, as Corus, the Anglo-Dutch group, posted quarterly earnings below a year-ago level. The company announced that good results will be seen in the next six months. In other news from the sector, the much-talked-about merger of Arcelor with Severstal prompted investors into considering legal action to make Severstal launch a full bid for Arcelor.

Crude oil for July delivery slipped 4 cents to $71.99 a barrel by 0710 GMT, a day after prices advanced 66 cents to their highest close in two-and-a-half weeks on oil demand from China. Brent crude remained unchanged at $71.05 a barrel.The euro gained against the dollar. In morning European trading the euro bought $1.2873, up from $1.2865 the evening before in New York. The dollar slipped to purchase 111.97 Japanese yen from 112.17 the day before, while the British pound advanced slightly to $1.8837 from $1.8829 in New York.

[R]5:00AM Gold and silver advanced due to weak dollar.[/R]
August gold finished $3.10 higher at $660.50 an ounce on NYME. Earlier in the trading the contract reached $671.50 an ounce. July silver closed 34 cents higher at $13.07 an ounce after hitting a session high of $13.36 an ounce. July platinum settled down $6.70 at $1,291.40 an ounce, while September palladium ended up $2.10 at $362.65 an ounce. The most-traded July copper contract dropped 14.10 cents to $3.6740 per pound.

July crude oil contract finished 66 cents higher at $72.03 a barrel, after advancing to $72.75 a barrel. June gasoline put up 1.31 cent to $2.1499 a gallon, off its prior high of $2.19 a gallon. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee finished 0.65 cent up at 98.75 cents a pound. July futures for raw sugar in foreign ports added 0.03 cent higher at 15.91 cents a pound.