Europe Falls on Auto Shares

Ivaylo
20 Nov, 2001
New York City

European stock markets fell on Monday as a number of heavily-weighted sectors, including media stocks, banks, oil producers and carmakers all dropped, extending the losses felt late last week. Carmakers rallied strongly at the begining of last week on bid talk but quickly fell after Porsche made it clear it was not planning a full takeover of Folkswagen. By mid morning, London FTSE 100 lost 0.5%, 1.Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.5%, and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.8%.

[R]6:30AM European markets fall Monday on auto, banks and oil shares.[/R]
European markets were lower on Monday. By mid morning, London FTSE 100 lost 0.5% to 6,159, 1.Frankfurt Xetra Dax fell 0.5% to 6,379.62, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.8% to 5,397.75.

Decliners

Carmakers were on the decline. Porsche was set to make an offer for its rival Volkswagen but press reports in Germany on Monday, said Porsche did not plan to make a full takeover of VW in spite of building up a 29.9% stake. Volkswagen shares were fell 0.2%, while Porsche fell 1.1 %. Fiat of Italy fell 1.6%, while Peugeot lost 1.4% and domestic rival Renault shed 1.3%.

Total of France down 1%, while Repsol YPF of Spain fell 1% and Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch producer, lost 1%.

ITV of Britian led the media sector lower after investors feared stakebuilding by rival UK broadcaster BSkyB would put off potential bidders. ITV fell 2%, while BSkyB shed 1.5%.

French media group Vivendi fell 0.8% after the company announced that bid talks with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had ended.

Advancers

RTL Group, the pan-European broadcaster which had been in talks with ITV, gained 0.9.

Stock exchange operator Deutsche Borse rose 2%, getting its boost from takeover speculation after Nasdaq, the US trading platorm, launched a $5.1 billion bid for London Stock Exchange. LSE shares gained 5.7%.

Swiss Re gained 1.8% after the reinsurer said clients had put in the lowest claims in 10 years, while premiums had remained robust.

Oil and gold

Light sweet crude oil for January delivery was down 59 cents to $58.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME. January Brent crude at London ICE Futures exchange was down 68 cents to $58.31 a barrel.

Gold traded at $624.10 an ounce on Monday, up $5.90 an ounce from Friday close of $618.20.

Currencies

The euro traded at $1.2836, from $1.2829 in New York. The yen traded at 151.57 against the euro. It was at 118.08 per dollar from 117.75. Against the dollar, the British pound was at $1.8979 in London, from $1.8946 late on Nov. 17.

[R]5:00AM Gold recovers following energy and currency markets.[/R]
December gold advanced 80 cents to end at $622.50 a troy ounce, after initially trading as low as $614.50. December silver lost 14.5 cents to close at $12.80. January platinum gained $2.80 to finish at $1,192.10 an ounce and December palladium dipped $4.30 to $317.95 an ounce. Most-active December copper settled up 1.65 cents at $3.0575 per pound.

December crude oil lost 45 cents to end at $55.81 a barrel. December heating oil settled down 0.84 cent to $1.6689 a gallon. December gasoline rose 1.15 cent to $1.5411 a gallon. December natural gas gained 42.4 cents to end at $8.179 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures closed 3.40 cents lower at $1.1310 a pound. March futures of raw sugar in foreign ports also moved 0.18 cent lower at 11.35 cents a pound.