Europe Edges Higher

Ivaylo
04 Dec, 2001
New York City

European shares traded higher on Monday morning, with a slight strengthening of the U.S. dollar and resurgence in deal making across Europe. French heavy engineer Alstom was one of the biggest gainers after Bouygues, the construction and telecoms group, revealed late last week it had raised its stake in the power station builder, prompting speculation about a full takeover. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.5%, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.4%, and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.4%.

[R]6:30AM European markets gained a little on Monday on bid speculation.[/R]
European markets were higher on Monday. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.5% to 6,049.8, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.4% to 6,268.05, and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.4% to 5,272.54.

Advancers

Shares in Alstom gained 2.4%, while Bouygues added 0.3%. Spanish construction company FCC gained 2.4% after domestic rival Acciona said it had agreed to sell its 15.1% stake in FCC to property group Inmocaral. Inmocaral jumped 5.1%. Acciona shares were flat.

Endesa, meanwhile, along with rival Spanish electricity groups Iberdrola and Union Fenosa, gained after the government said it planned to raise electricity tariffs by an average 10 %, Endesa gained 0.6%, Iberdrola added 0.7% and Union Fenosa climbed 1.1%.

Eon, the German utility whose bid for Endesa could potentially be blocked by Acciona, climbed 0.4%. AstraZeneca, whose rival treatment Crestor is among its biggest growth drivers, gained 1.1%, while Roche, the Swiss group which is developing a new cholesterol drug, added 0.3%.

Decliners

The German-listed pharma company Pfizer fell as much as 12% after the company ended development of a new cholesterol drug, which had been tipped to be its next blockbuster.

Oil and gold

Oil prices gained slightly Monday as fresh comments from key OPEC members over the weekend suggested the oil cartel would push for further cuts in output at its next meeting later this month. Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery rose 2 cents to $63.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME.

Gold traded at $640.66 an ounce Monday, down $5.74 an ounce from the close of $646.40 on Friday.

Currencies

After rising to a 20-month high around $1.3370 in early trade, the euro pared gains to stand at $1.3325, slightly down on the day. The British pound pulled away from a 14-year high of $1.9849 hit on Friday to stand at $1.9790. The dollar was up slightly at 115.55 Japanese yen but stayed in sight of a four-month low of 114.97 yen on Friday.

[R]5:00AM Gold prices declined Friday, while silver futures added up on dollar.[/R]
February gold lost $2.30 to end at $650.60 a troy ounce on the NYME. March silver rose 7.5 cents to $14.19 an ounce. January platinum fell $22.20 to $1,154.50 an ounce. March palladium declined $1.60 to $332.75. Most-active March copper settled down 2.35 cents at $3.1720 per pound.

The January crude oil contract advanced 30 cents to close at $63.43 a barrel, their highest close since Sept. 18. January heating oil settled down 0.23 cent to $1.8477 a gallon. January unleaded gasoline gained 1.70 cents to finish at $1.6855 a gallon. December natural gas settled down 42.2 cents at $8.411 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures closed 3.50 cents higher at $1.2320 a pound, with most active March up 3.30 cents at $1.2760. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March settled down 0.11 cent at 12.26 cents a pound, with May down 0.06 cent at 12.20 cents.