European Stocks Down On Oil And Dollar

Ivaylo
05 Jun, 2006
Frankfurt

Takeovers helped European stocks finish higher last week. However, shares suffered a heavy blow on Monday, as oil topped $73 a barrel following Iran

[R]6:30AM Europe falls, struck by oil prices and weak dollar.[/R]
Stocks with the greatest exposure to the plunging dollar suffered the worst in early trade. Luxury goods makers, which are closely connected to the US export market, dropped – led by Luxottica, the Italian designer eyewear company, losing 2.4%. LVMH, the French maker of Louis Vuitton fashion accessories, shed 1.4%, while Christian Dior dropped 0.5%. Carmakers, were also struck by advancing raw materials costs. Of the German groups, DaimlerChrysler dropped 1.4%, BMW fell 1.1% and Volkswagen shed 1.2%. French Renault declined 1%, and Peugeot lost 1%.

Light, sweet crude oil for July delivery advanced $1.02 to $73.35 a barrel and July Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures advanced $1.03 to $72.06 per barrel. In morning trading, the dollar fell against the euro. The European currency advanced to $1.2979 - the highest it has been since May 5 last year. It then pulled back slightly to $1.2957, up from $1.2917 late Friday in New York. The British pound advanced to $1.8856 from $1.8828 on Friday, while the dollar edged up slightly to buy 111.78 Japanese yen, from 111.62 in New York.

[R]5:00AM Gold prices rose on Friday helped by weak U.S. job data.[/R]
August gold on the NYME advanced $7.50 to close at $641 an ounce, after rising to $644 an ounce. July silver finished 18 cents higher at $12.085 an ounce. The most-traded July copper contract advanced 11.55 cents to finish at $3.5865 per pound.

Oil prices rose more than $2 a barrel Friday on a wave of buying sparked by domestic and international supply concerns. July crude oil advanced $2.36 to a high of $72.70 a barrel, the highest intra-day level for a front-month contract since May 11. July gasoline closed up 7.03 cents at $2.1975 a gallon. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee closed 1.30 cents up at $1.0125 a pound. Raw sugar in foreign ports futures for July ended up 0.07 cent at 15.21 cents a pound.