London and Europe Trade Near Recent Highs

Ivaylo
03 Jan, 2007
New York City

Euopean shares traded near flat levels as stocks opened for trading in new York. European stocks trades mildly higher on 2% rise in French auto maker Peugeot. Mining and bank stocks in London trading closed lower on profit taking and drop in copper and oil prices. Anglo American, BHP and Rio Tinto declined. CSR fell 2.3% on the accuse of patent violation. Britvic, second largest soft drink maker and retailer DSG International rose.

[R]10:00AM NY – 3:00PM London – FTSE 100 was nearly flat on weak miners and banks.[/R]

The FTSE 100 was trading 5 points, 0.1%, higher at 6,315.9 in the late afternoon trading.

Advancers

In the UK, financials advanced after positive broker comment from UBS. Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 1.8% while Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester both gained 1.4%. UBS also made a comment over the retail sector, noting that recent reports from non-listed companies have performed better than expected

Tobacco stocks rebounded after their decline on Tuesday by news that the government is considering lifting the legal smoking age from 16 to 18. British American Tobacco added 1.4% and Imperial Tobacco advanced by 0.9%.

Among the mid-cap stocks, Majestic Wine rose 0.4% after it posted a 4.4% rise in UK like-for-like sales over the Christmas period.

Decliners

Profit taking hit miners. Xstrata lost 4.6%, Vedanta Resources fell 4.5% and Antofagasta was down 5.2%. Drax Group, which owns the biggest coal-fired power station in Europe, lost 3.7% on weaker power prices and a mild winter in the UK.

Stocks trading ex-dividend also impacted the market negatively with Topps Tiles losing 2.7%, WH Smith down 1.5% and Dairy Crest Group lower by 2.3%.

Irish building materials group CRH said that it anticipates another record year of growth, despite the impact of the tough US housing market. CRH lost 1.40%.


[R]9:30AM NY – Market futures point a sharply higher opening in New York trading.[/R]
Futures trading indicate higher opening. Nasdaq futures indicate index to open up 8 points, S&P to open up 11 points and Dow to open up 75 points.

Wal-Mart December same store sales rose 1.6%, higher than forecast of 1%. The company is reported to be planning flexible work assignment for its 1.3 million part time workers to match with store traffic.

Home Depot reported that the company and Bob Nardelli have mutually agreed to terminate his position as CEO, chairman and president of the company effective immediately. Mr. Nardelli will receive $210 million severance pay. Mr. Nardelli’s pay has been a constant source of friction between company and investors.

Lennar warned that it may take write down between $400 million and $500 million in the forth quarter. The company CEO also said that he does not expect the current softness in the home building market to end soon.

Amazon.com, Internet based retailer, was trading lower in the pre-market trading on downgrade to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ from Citigroup.


[R]7:30 AM Asian markets close mixed with HK and Singapore higher.[/R]
Asian markets finished mixed on Wednesday. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closed the day 0.5% higher at 20,413. Large-caps which underperformed last year caught up. CKI Holdings, the biggest large-cap decliner last year, advanced 5%, and Cosco Pacific added 4%. Chinese auto manufacturers surged on expectations for M&A in the sector. Brilliance China Auto gained 15%, Dongfeng Group was up 10% and Geely Auto rose 4.9%.

Singapore Straits Times Index gained 1.7% to close at 3,038, a record high. The most active stock for the third consecutive session was Genting International, which advanced 20.7%. South Korean Kospi Index shed 1.8% to 1,409 as some brokerages reduced their fourth-quarter earnings forecasts for Samsung Electronics, which fell 2.2% and Hyundai Engineering & Construction also shed 3.9%.

In Australia, profit-taking brought shares down again, resulting in a swing of early gains as participants await direction from US markets and the London Metal Exchange. Profit-taking affected banks, insurers, property trusts, retailers and miners. Woodside Petroleum dipped 1.6% and Santos shed 1% on news of temporary shutdowns in response to Cyclone Isobel. BHP Billiton retreated 0.2% and Rio Tinto declined 0.3%.

Thailand SET Index plunged 3% to 659. Stocks tumbled 3.8% as a string of bombings over New Year in Bangkok further shook investor confidence.

[R]6:30 AM European markets gain slightly Wednesday on profit-taking.[/R]
European markets were higher on Wednesday. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London edged 0.1% lower to 6,306.8, Frankfurt Xetra Dax advanced 0.1% higher at 6,685.56, while the CAC 40 in Paris moved fractionally higher to 5,619.35.

Advancers

In Switzerland ABB, an engineering company, added 2.3%, while logistics firm Kuehne & Nagel added 2.7 %, and private bank Julius Baer gained 1.9%.

Another Swiss company, Richemont, luxury goods retailer and watchmaker, and rival Swatch, both gained. Data published shortly before Christmas showed Swiss watch exports had increased by 13% in November, while growth over the 12 months to the end of November was 12.7%. Shares in Richemont, owner of the Cartier brand, advanced 2%, while Swatch, the biggest watchmaker in the world, gained 1.2%.

The financials were buoyed by recent market performances and helped boost many European bourses from early losses. UBS, the Swiss investment bank, gained 2.3%, Alpha Bank in Greece rose 1.6% and Intesa Sanpaolo, the newly-merged Italian bank, rose 1.4%.

Peugeot gained 1.7% after Exane BNP Paribas lifted its price target on the the French carmaker.

Decliners

Miners were among the worst hit by profit taking, while industrial metals groups were also lower. Arcelor Mittal was down 1.1%, while ThyssenKrupp declined 1.8%.

Gold and oil

Crude oil declined below $61 a barrel in New York as mild weather in the U.S. limited heating demand and traders speculated that fuel inventories rose last week. Crude oil for February delivery fell 84 cents, or 1.4%, to $60.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $60.30 a barrel at 11:46 in early trade in London. Brent crude traded at $60.06 on the London-based ICE Futures exchange.

Gold for February delivery advanced $5.20, or 0.8%, to $643.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Currencies

The dollar on Wednesday advanced slightly against the euro, which had started 2007 up against the U.S. currency in thin trading. The 13-nation European currency purchased $1.3274, a slight slip from $1.3276 in late trading in New York on Tuesday. The British pound also shed a little to the dollar, trading at $1.9637, down from $1.9729. The dollar gained on the Japanese yen to 119.24 yen from 118.85 yen late Tuesday.

[R]5:00 AM Gold advanced Tuesday on CME Globex, Nymex closed.[/R]
Gold for February delivery advanced $4.30, or 0.7%, to end at $642.30 an ounce in electronic trading on CME Globex. Other metals markets were mixed in electronic trading, with March silver gaining 33 cents to finish at $13.265 an ounce and March palladium $1 higher to close at $339.50 an ounce, but January platinum slipped 30 cents to end at $1,139 an ounce while March copper lost 8.3 cents to $2.788 a pound.


Crude-oil futures started the New Year on slightly lower ground Tuesday, while natural-gas prices dropped 3%. Crude oil for February delivery declined 23 cents to close at $60.85 a barrel in trading on the CME Globex electronic platform, after hitting a high of $61.55. The February contract in natural-gas futures shed 4 cents, or 0.6%, to stand at $6.259 per million British thermal units following a low of $6.10. Natural-gas futures prices plunged 44% in 2006.