Weaker Autos Weigh Europe down

Ivaylo
30 Oct, 2001
New York City

European stocks retreated from recent gains on Monday following lower-than-expected gross domestic product data Friday from the largest economy in the world and as investors took to profit-taking, particularly in the auto sector. Companies such as Dutch bank ABN Amro and publisher Pearson also traded lower after updating investors on progress. By mid morning, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.6%, Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.7%, and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.9%.

[R]6:30AM European shares declinedon Monday on weak auto stocks.[/R]
European markets were lower, by mid morning on Monday. The FTSE 100 in London lost 0.6% to 6,124.5, Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.7% to 6,218.24, and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.9% to 5,349.35.

Advancers

Italian bank Capitalia led the few advancers, up 1.1 %, on rumours that Santander of Spain as considering a bid. Santander denied the report.

Hennes & Mauritz, the Swedish fashion group, gained 1 % after Morgan Stanley raised its price target. The move reflected the new initiatives of the company of international expansion, home shopping, shoes and a new higher-priced former.

Decliners

Eiffage, the French construction and concessions group, was the worst performing stock on the Eurofirst 300. It fell 4.5% after Spanish constructor OHL denied speculation that the two companies were in talks to form an alliance.

Carmakers were weaker as Volkswagen of Germany attracted differing broker views following its forecast-beating results released on Friday. Other stocks in the sector also fell. BMW shed 2.1%, while Renault lost 1.1% and Porsche lost 1.9%.

Erste Bank in Austria fell 3.3% after it reported a 16% rise in third-quarter net profit that fell shy of expectations. Raiffeisen International, the main competitor of Erste Bank in eastern Europe, fell 2.4%. ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, fell 1.6% after announcing a 5.6% fall in third-quarter net profit.

Oil and gold

Oil prices edged up Monday tracking a terror alert in the petroleum-rich Gulf region last week and as traders watched for signs that OPEC nations were following through on announced production cuts. Light, sweet crude oil for December rose 7 cents to $60.82 a barrel on the NYME.

Gold opened Monday at a bid price of $602.30 a troy ounce, up from $596.80 late Friday.

Currencies

The European currency was in trading against the U.S. dollar on Monday, dipping nominally as investors pondered whether the European Central Bank would keep interest rates unchanged when it meets this week. In morning trading, the euro bought $1.2727 compared with $1.2736 in late New York trading on Friday. The British pound fell to $1.8985 from $1.8963 on Friday and the dollar dipped to 117.36 yen from 117.59 yen on Friday.

[R]5:00AM Gold futures rose slightly Friday on dollar weakness.[/R]
The most-active December gold moved higher $1.20 to close at $601 a troy ounce on the NYME, staying below last week high of $606. The most-active December silver settled 16 cents lower at $12.08 an ounce. January platinum declined $3.60 to end at $1,079.70 an ounce. December palladium slipped $3.50 to finish at $323 an ounce and the most-active December copper was up 0.50 cent to close at $3.4050 per pound.

December light sweet crude oil settled up 39 cents at $60.75 a barrel. November heating oil lost 0.56 cents to close at $1.6944 a gallon and november gasoline fell 0.38 cents to end at $1.5599 a gallon. November natural gas settled down 34.4 cents at $7.153 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures ended up 0.40 cent at $1.08 a pound. March futures for raw sugar in foreign ports lost 0.03 cent to finish at 11.79 cents a pound.