Europe Rises on Tobacco

Ivaylo
07 Dec, 2006
New York City

European tobacco stocks were given a boost by bid activity on Thursday which helped stock markets edge higher as investors awaited interest rate decisions from both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Gallaher Group, boosted the sector after receiving a bid approach from Japan Tobacco. In early trade, the FTSE 100 London climbed 0.4%, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.2%, and the CAC 40 in Paris was fractionally higher.

[R]6:30AM European markets advanced Thursday on bid activity in tobacco stocks.[/R]
European markets gained on Thursday. In early trade, the FTSE 100 London climbed 0.4% to 6,112.5, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.2% to 6,380.6, and the CAC 40 in Paris was fractionally higher at 5,351.93.

Advancers

Gallaher Group, the UK tobacco company that owns the Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut brands, buoyed the sector after receiving a bid approach from Japan Tobacco. Shares in Gallaher rose 19.3%, as speculation mounted about a counterbid, possibly from Philip Morris of the US.

Altadis, the Franco-Spanish group, climbed 6% as takeover speculation spread through the sector. Imperial Tobacco, gained 7.3%.

Banks were in positive territory, led by KBC Group in Belgium which announced a 3 billion euros share buyback plan and raised its targets for the next three years. KBC shares were up 4%.

Barclays, the UK bank, gained 3% on rumours that a US banking group was interested in making an approach. Anglo Irish Bank meanwhile, continued to rise after better-than-expected full-year profits posted onWednesday, up another 2.4%.

Alcatel-Lucent, the telecoms equipment manufacturer, gained 2.6% after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its pan-Europe conviction buy list.

Decliners

Other companies updating investors were in negative territory with Bradford & Bingley shares down 2% after recent strong gains. Northern Rock shares dipped 0.3% in London. Rank Group shares slipped 1.7% after it concluded its auction of the Hard Rock Café chain of restaurants, selling them to the Seminole Tribe of Florida for $965 million.

Oil and gold

Oil prices gained slightly on Thursday after U.S. government data showed that domestic inventories of crude oil, gasoline and heating oil fell last week. Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 23 cents to $62.42 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME.

Gold opened Thursday at a bid price of $631.29 a troy ounce, down from $637.70 late Wednesday.

Currencies

The euro continued to hover around 20-month highs on Thursday as the European Central Bank met to decide if it should continue its campaign of rate hikes for a sixth time in a year. In morning European trading, the euro stood at $1.3287, up from $1.3285 in New York late Wednesday.

The British pound last week reached a 14-year high against the dollar. However, it has since fell, and traded at $1.9683, up from $1.9658, its peak on Tuesday. The dollar fell to 114.88 Japanese yen from 115.26 yen.

[R]5:00AM Gold and silver extend declines Wednesday due to profit-taking.[/R]
February gold lost $12 to $635.90 a troy ounce on the NYME. March silver fell 23 cents to $13.795. January platinum shed $8 to to end at $1,125.70 an ounce. March palladium lost $6.30 to $330.10. Most-active March copper settled down 8.7 cents at $3.16 per pound.

January crude oil dipped 24 cents to close at $62.19 a barrel after trading in a range of $61.84-$63.01 a barrel during the session. January unleaded gasoline settled down 1.52 cents to $1.6212 a gallon. January heating oil lost 0.43 cent to finish at $1.7940 a gallon. December natural gas advanced 4.2 cents to end at $7.727 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures declined 1.70 cents to end at $1.2170 a pound. March futures on raw sugar in foreign ports settled 0.27 cent lower at 11.49 cents a pound.