Modest Start for Europe

Ivaylo
19 Sep, 2006
New York City

European stocks were little changed on Tuesday, as investors tracked U.S. cautious finish yesterday ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate meeting this week, despite positive results from miner Kazakhmys and the Bank of Ireland helped to limit downside. The U.K. FTSE 100 index was firm, the German DAX Xetra 30 index edged down 0.1% and the French CAC-40 index was flat.

[R]6:30AM European markets make dull start on Tuesday in spite of gains.[/R]
European markets were trading flat by mid-morning on Tuesday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index was firm at 5,892, the German DAX Xetra 30 index edged down 0.1% at 5,922 and the French CAC-40 index was flat at 5,147. Attention is expected to focus on the macro-economic data with the ZEW survey of German economic sentiment due for release later in the session. On the corporate front, the emphasis is still on the proposed merger deal from MAN, after Scania rejected the German conglomerate bid.

Advancers

Copper miner Kazakhmys led the advancers as ots shares rose 1.1% after its first-half net profit nearly tripled MAN traded 1.5% higher as advisers hope that resistance by the leading shareholders, Investor and Volkswagem, to the deal is mainly over price and that a sweetened offer could win them over as neither rejected the bid on principle. TeliaSonera rose 1.8%, continuing its strong performance from the previous session.

Bank of Ireland advanced 1.5% following its statement it is expecting to deliver an excellent performance in the current half-year. Newspaper publisher Independent News & Media gained 3.1% after it said its adjusted first-half profit rose 9%.

Decliners

Telecom Italia lost 1.3% after the Morgan Stanley cut its rating to underweight from equal-weight. Scania was 0.3% lower after rejecting the takeover bid from MAN.

Economic news

Diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia could be seriously hurt by the revocation of Russia for the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project on environmental issues, Japan government spokesman warned on Tuesday. Ferenc Gyurcsany has resisted calls to step down as Hungarian prime minister and vowed to restore public order after an anti-government demonstration turned into a riot.

[R]5:00AM Gold rises.However, marketmen remain cautious of end of fall.[/R]
December gold rose $9.80 to settle at $592.80 a troy ounce on Monday on the NYME. December silver ended at $11.29 an ounce, up 41.5 cents. October platinum advanced $3.20 higher at $1,166.90 an ounce. December palladium ended the session $3.25 lower at $311.55 an ounce. The most-active December copper contract gained 10.30 cents to settle at $3.4145 per pound.

October crude oil settled at $63.80 a barrel, up 47 cents on top of the 11-cent gain on Friday. October gasoline settled up 0.46 cent at $1.5796 a gallon and October heating oil settled up 2.34 cents at $1.7257 a gallon. October natural gas settled down 4.0 cents at $4.942 a million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures ended lower after industry and speculative buying curbed a fund-led drop to seven-week lows. October futures on raw sugar in foreign ports settled down 0.08 cent at 12.36 cents a pound.