Techs, Oil Drag Europe down

Ivaylo
03 Oct, 2006
New York City

The slip on U.S. and Asian markets came after a number of downgrades, while energy companies were hit by falling oil prices. Technology stocks suffered after the US Nasdaq fell overnight following a downgrade of Apple Computer by Citigroup. Japanese tech issues also dropped after Goldman Sachs downgraded the likes of Sony and Pioneer. The FTSE 100 in London lost 0.5%, while Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.7% and in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.7%.

[R]6:30AM Tech and enegry stocks weigh Europe down on Tuesday.[/R]
European markets were lower by mid morning on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 in London lost 0.5% to 5,927.5, while Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.7% to 5,957.65 and in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.7% to 5,206.45.

Decliners

Infineon, the German chipmaker, fell 1.7% after Rabo Securities downgraded the stock. Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics shed 1.5% and Dutch chip equipment maker ASML fell 1%.

Oil producers fell after crude prices sank overnight on speculation that US supplies will continue to build in spite of Opec production cuts. Finnish refiner Neste Oil fell 3.2%, while Statoil of Norway fell 2.9%. Total of France shed 1.1 % and Repsol in Spain lost 1.1%.

Spanish property group Metrovacesa gave back some its recent gains as its shares retreated 3.3% and Eon, the German utility, fell 0.8%.

Advancers

Shares of miner Xstrata rose 2.8% after it said that it''s issuing 2.9 billion pounds ($5.5 billion) in discounted shares, to help refinance a $7 billion temporary facility to buy the Canadian miner Falconbridge. Tesco advanced 0.7% after it said that its first-half net profit rose 23%, as revenue from continuing operations rose 20.8%.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for November delivery dropped 54 cents to $60.49 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME at midday in Europe. November Brent crude at London ICE Futures exchange fell 69 cents to $59.76 a barrel.

Gold slipped as low as $591.70 an ounce and was quoted at $592.80/593.80 in early morning, down from $597.50/598.25 late in New York on Monday.

Currencies

The euro rose to $1.2758, up from $1.2742. The U.S. dollar traded at 117.66 yen, up from 117.60 yen from late Monday. The pound was at 67.59 pence in London, compared with 67.57 pence late yesterday.

[R]5:00AM Gold futures ended flat on Monday, while silver managed to rise.[/R]
The most-active December gold sank 90 cents at $603.30 a troy ounce. December silver futures added 10 cents up at $11.64 an ounce. January platinum settled up $9 at $1,159.20 an ounce. December palladium ended down $2.25 at $314.15 an ounce. December copper lost 3.10 cents to finish at $3.4295 per pound.

The front-month November light, sweet crude oil contract settled down $1.88 at $61.03 a barrel. November heating oil declined 5.17 cents to close at $1.7018 a gallon. Front month unleaded gasoline settled down 4.52 cents at $1.5087 a gallon. October natural gas advanced 2.3 cents at $5.643 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures closed down 4.10 cents at $1.0355 a pound and March lost 4.10 cents at $1.0740, spurred in part by beneficial weekend rainfall in Brazil. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March slipped 0.43 cent at 11.32 cents a pound and May lost 0.35 cent to 11.50 cents.