Europe Declines On Profit Taking

Ivaylo
15 Aug, 2006
Frankfurt

Profit taking was the reason behind the falls after the strong session on Monday. The high-flying miners and engineers which supply machinery and services to them, were the worst hit by profit taking. Drugs stocks offered the market some support.The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.3%, while Xetra Dax in Frankfurt fell 0.3%, while in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.1%.

[R]6:30AM European markets fall by mid-morning on profit taking.[/R]
European markets were lower by mid-morning on Tuessay. The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.3% to 5,855.3, while Xetra Dax in Frankfurt fell 0.3% to 5,675.72, while in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.1% to 5,041.85. Atlas Copso, the Swedish engineer company, fell 1.5%, while Xstrata, the London-listed miner, shed 1.4%.

Drugs stocks offered the market some support. Britain''s Shire led the gainers, climbing 5.3%, Sanofi-Aventis gained 1.4 % after it said on Monday that along with US partner Bristol-Myers Squibb, it had requested a preliminary injunction to halt sales by Apotex of a generic form of their Plavix anti-clotting treatment. Dutch chemicals group, Akzo Nobel, rallied 3% after it said it was seeking shareholder approval to spin off its pharmaceuticals operations and float up to 30 per cent of its Organon Biosciences unit.

Oil prices continued to fall Tuesday as the market responded to a nearly day-old cease-fire in Lebanon.Light sweet crude oil for September delivery fell 28 cents to $73.25 a barrel , while September Brent at London''s ICE Futures exchange shed 35 cents to $73.95 a barrel. The U.S. dollar was trading at 116.48 yen, down from 116.67 yen late Monday in New York. The euro rose to $1.2746 from $1.2719.

[R]5:30AM Gold finishes lower on oil prices decline and downgraded terror threat.[/R]
Gold for December delivery finished down $5.10 at $639.30 an ounce on the NYME. September silver rose 27.5 cents to close at $12.16 an ounce. October platinum closed down $21.10 at $1,233.30 an ounce and September palladium retreated by $4.00 to $318.30 an ounce, moving in tandem with gold. September copper closed up 6.1 cents at $3.537 a pound.

September crude oil settled down 82 cents at $73.53 a barrel. September natural gas settled down 35.6 cents at $6.913 per million British thermal units.September Arabica coffee fell 3.55 cents to $1.0075 per pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October settled 0.86 cent lower at 12.50 cents a pound.