Europe Slightly Down In Early Trade

Ivaylo
12 Jun, 2006
Frankfurt

European stocks fell slightly down on Monday, due to mergers-and-acquisitions speculation, gains in the energy sector, and broker moves which counterwighed the prolonged economic concerns that struck stock markets last week. The FTSE 100 in London bucked the trend and was up 3.7 points at 5,658.9 in early trade, while the German Xetra Dax shed 29.4 points and the French CAC 40 declined 23.6 points.

[R]6:30AM European shares extend early losses.[/R]
On the corporate front, Ericsson said it had agreed to sell its defense business, Ericsson Microwave Systems AB and its 40% holding in Saab Ericsson Space to Saab. Remy Cointreau recouped from a sharp opening fall to trade 0.6% higher after the French wines and spirits group posted full-year results below analysts’ expectations due to restructuring charges. There are reports that Credit Suisse is in exclusive talks to sell its insurance business Winterthur to Axa, the French insurance company. Arcelor has formally rejected Mittal Steel’s takeover bid but its management board has agreed to meet with Mittal to review the offer. Arcelor trade 0.4% higher on hopes that its decision to review the offer might indicate a softening in its stance towards Mittal, which edged 1.5% down.

Light, sweet crude oil for July delivery declined 13 cents to $71.50 a barrel by 0610 GMT, while Brent crude advanced 2 cents to $70.50 a barrel. Gold opened Monday at a bid price of $604.30 a troy ounce, down from $615.65 late Friday. The dollar changed little against the euro. The European currency purchased $1.2643 in morning European trading, compared with $1.2644 in New York late Friday. The British pound advanced to $1.8446 from $1.8413, while the dollar inched up to 114.00 Japanese yen from 113.92 yen.

[R]5:00 AM Precious metals finished mixed in New York on Friday.[/R]
August gold finished $1 down at $612.80 a troy ounce on NYME. It traded at $622 before falling down. July silver climbed 13.5 cents to $11.21 an ounce, but closed well down from the $11.51 peak. July platinum closed nearly unchanged, advancing only 10 cents to $1,190.20 after reaching $1,208.80 an ounce. September palladium fell back from a high of $334 to close up $3 for the day at $325.55. The benchmark July copper contract ended 8.95 cents down at $3.2675 per pound. Earlier in the session, the contract reached $3.47 per pound but later pared gains and dipped to a $3.2415 five-week low.

July crude oil contract advanced $1.28 to $71.63 a barrel after dropping to $69.95 in overnight trading. July gasoline contract ended at $2.1528 a gallon, up 5.06 cents on the day. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee closed 0.55 cent down at 95.90 cents a pound and September shed 0.55 cent to 98.70 cents a pound. Raw sugar in foreign ports futures for July finished up 0.02 cent at 15.05 cents a pound while October was down 0.01 cent to 15.43 cents a pound.