Europe Movers: Barratt Developments, James Fisher, SGL Carbon, Siemens Energy, Uniper

Bridgette Randall
07 Sep, 2022
Frankfurt

European markets advanced and energy prices in the region fell for the third day in a row. 

Investors are bracing another round of rate hike as central banks in the U.S., Europe and Asia target inflation in a coordinated fashion. 

The European Central Bank is set to lift its key lending rate by as much as 75 basis points and the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to match the hike at its next two-day policy meeting ending on Sep 21.

The DAX index increased 0.4% to 12,915.97, the CAC-40 index rose 0.02% to 6,105.92, and the FTSE 100 index fell 0.9% to 7,237.83. 

Brent crude oil prices fell 4.9% to $88.26 a barrel and TTF gas prices plunged 11.4% to 213.81 euros a megawatt a hour.  

The U.S. dollar continued to rise and the euro dropped to $0.994 and the British pound eased to $1.147, the lowest in 37 years as investors anticipate inflation to accelerate and economic conditions to weaken. 

Rising current account deficit and dropping investor confidence has hammered the pound 15% against the U.S. dollar this year.   

The British pound is set to test its record low of $1.02 reached in February 1985. 

In stock trading, resource stocks led the decliners after Brent crude oil prices fell 4.9% and natural gas prices dropped 11%. 

Glencore, Anglo American, Antofagasta and BHP Group dropped between 2% and 3%. 

Repsol SA declined 4% to 12.93 euros and the Spanish petrochemicals company said it has agreed to sell 25% stake in its upstream business for $4.8 billion to an energy investment company EIG Global Energy Partners. 

Siemens Energy SA declined 3.3% to 13.67 euros after the company and Russia traded blames linked to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline maintenance. 

Russia blamed Siemens Energy for the lack of maintenance and Siemens denied the allegations. 

Uniper SE plunged as much as 5% before recovering to close down 0.5% to 4.71 euros after the German utility company said natural gas prices could go higher. 

SGL Carbon SE gained 12% to 7.40 euros after the company revised higher fiscal year revenues to 1.2 billion euros from 1.1 billion euros on account of better performance in its carbon fibers unit. 

The company also revised higher its operating earnings in the range between 170 million and 190 million euros from the previous range between 130 million and 150 million euros. 

James Fisher & Sons declined 6.2% to 286 pence after the marine engineering services provider reported a decline in first-half profit. 

Revenues in the first-half ending in June increased 2% to 238.4 million pounds and net income plunged 28% to 2 million pounds from 13.6 million pounds a year ago. 

However, the company said second-half is expected to be "materially stronger" than the first and the full-year underlying operating profit "is expected to be broadly in-line with 2021."

Barratt Developments PLC declined 1.2% to 417.0 pence after the home builder said home completions recovered to the pre-pandemic level.  

Barratt said revenues in the fiscal year ending in June rose 9.5% to 5.27 billion pounds and completed homes increased 3.9% to 17,908. 

Profit-before-tax declined 21% to 642.3 million pounds and basic earnings per share dropped 22% to 50.6 pence from 64.9 pence a year ago.