M&A Activity Boosts Europe

Ivaylo
25 Sep, 2001
New York City

Oil dropped below $60 a barrel after BP announced on Friday it will raised production from its giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska to near full capcity in about a week, after obtaining approval from US pipeline regulators. A continuation of health-care sector consolidation including Schwarz Pharma climbing after a deal to be bought by UCB also buoyed the markets. The FTSE 100 in London added 0.4%, while the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was up 0.9% and the CAC-40 in Paris rose 0.7

[R]6:30AM European shares advance on Monday on oil prices and merger deals.[/R]
European markets were higher by mid-morning on Monday. The FTSE 100 in London added 0.4% to 5,844.7, while the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was up 0.9% to 5,933.70 and the CAC-40 in Paris rose 0.7% to 5,179.89.

M&A Activity

Schwarz Pharma in Germany agreed to be bought by Belgian drug making rival UCB for around 4.4 billion euros in shares and cash. UCB shed 2.6% and Schwarz climbed 17.9%. UCB's offer, using Friday's closing price, is valued at 91.10 euros a share. UCB will issue new shares to fund the stock component of the deal.

Advancers

The fact oil prices have resumed their downward trend should at least offer some help to many stocks. Ryanair, the Irish airline, rose 3.1%. Crucell, rose 1.95 on speculation the Dutch biotech company may receive regulatory approval this week for its Quinvaxem vaccine for five childhood diseases. Union Fenosa rose 4.9% after ACS, the Spansih construction company, reportedly gave a buy order to bank Caja Madrid for 6% of the Spanish power company, aiming to take its stake to 40%. ACS was 1.1%.

Decliners

The oil sector was weak. BP fell 1.4% and Statoil dropped 4% and Norsk Hydro fell 3.6 %. Getronics, the Dutch IT services group, fell 2.9% after Deutsche Bank started the stock as a sell. The broker said challenges remained in the core business and working capital management must remain tight to avoid a future cash crunch.

Oil and gold

Oil prices fell below $60 a barrel for the first time in six months Monday. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 98 cents to $59.57 a barrel. November Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange dropped $1.04 at $59.37 a barrel. Gold traded in London at $589.50, up from $586.00 late Friday.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Monday morning. The euro bought $1.2772, down from $1.2787 late Friday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9031, up from $1.9006. The dollar bought 116.57 Japanese yen, up from 116.45.

[R]5:00AM Gold futures at one-year high, metals higher on dollar, oil[/R]
December gold advanced $7.10 at $595.40 a troy ounce and December silver struck a nearly two-week high of $11.49 an ounce but closed at $11.31 an ounce, up 6.5 cents. October platinum gained $8.60 at $1,148.10 an ounce. December palladium rose $12.65 at $321.65 an ounce while December copper added 1.20 cents at $3.4435 per pound.

November crude oil declined $1.04 to $60.55 a barrel, just above the six-month low settlement of $60.46 a barrel Wednesday. October heating oil lost 3.16 cents at $1.6472 a gallon. The October gasoline contract sank 2.82 cents to $1.4712 a gallona and October natural gas settled down 15.4 cents at $4.627 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures finished up 0.90 cent at $1.0445 a pound and March gained 0.90 cent to $1.0830 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October declined 1.10 cents at 10.46 cents a pound.