European Indexes Advance After Oil and Metal Prices Rebound

Lucy Stoeva
26 Jan, 2016
New York City

European markets closed higher after a spike in oil and metal prices. Anglo American jumped 12% after its diamond unit De Beers more than doubled sales of rough diamonds. EasyJet

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – European markets closed higher after a spike in oil and metal prices. Anglo American jumped 12% after its diamond unit De Beers more than doubled sales of rough diamonds. EasyJet’s revenue per seat decreased 3.7% in the last quarter. Philips and Siemens reported growth in healthcare divisions.[/R]

European stocks recovered from the early losses and closed in positive territory on Tuesday after a spike in oil and metal prices.

Crude oil prices rebounded on reports that OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, may limit production to deal with oversupply, if an agreement with non-OPEC producers is reached.

Brent crude oil surged 5.9% to $32.30 per barrel, while WTI oil futures gained 5.31% to $31.95 per barrel, despite a plunge of more than 3% in earlier in the day.

Among oil and energy companies, Tullow Oil soared 11.1%, Repsol gained 4.3%, Seadrill added 2.3%, and Total was up 2.2%.

Metal ore prices also rose sharply on speculative trading ahead of a holiday in China.

Shares of Anglo American, Rio Tinto, and Glencore closed significantly higher.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index gained 34.46 or 0.59% to 5,911.46 and in Frankfurt the DAX index added 86.60 or 0.89% to 9,822.75.

In Paris, CAC 40 index was down 45.48 or 1.05% to 4,356.81.

Anglo American Plc rose 11.8% after its diamond unit, De Beers, reported sales of rough diamonds of $540 million for the first sales cycle of 2016, compared to $248 million in the comparable period a year ago.

De Beers quoted higher demand for polished stones and strong jewelry sales during the holiday season.

EasyJet Plc tumbled 3.2% to 1,579 pence after the low-cost airline announced a decrease of revenue per seat of 3.7% in the quarter ended December due to decline in demand after the terrorist attacks in Paris and cancelled flights to Egypt after the attack on the Russian jet.

Total revenue decreased 0.1% in the quarter from a year ago to £930 million.

The airline reaffirmed its full-year profit estimate £738 million due to the boost from the drop in the cost of fuel and strong demand on U.K. beach lines.

Royal Philips NV soared 6.2% to €23.91 after the Dutch electronics maker said its healthcare business grew by 15% after the company separated its lighting division and focused on medical technology.

The company expects slight growth in sales and earnings in 2016, more pronounced in the second half of the year.

Sales in China increased, especially in the healthcare segment, after several quarters of slow growth.

Philips has not changed its plans to sell or list on a stock exchange its lighting division in 2016.

Siemens AG jumped 8.6% to €90.60 after the conglomerate announced strong first quarter results and raised its earnings forecast for the year ended in September 2016.

The German company expects earnings per share between €6 and €6.40, compared to a previous range of €5.90 to €6.20.

For the first quarter, Siemens reported net profit of €1.6 billion, up 42% from the same period in 2014.

Revenue surged 8% to €18.9 billion, including positive currency effects.