SAP, Carrefour Push Europe Lower

Ivaylo
12 Jan, 2007
New York City

European stocks lost grounf on Friday on weakness in the software and food retailing sectors, in the wake of disappointing results from SAP and Carrefour, impacting sentiment negatively. Other tech stocks were also hit. The declines also came as the U.S. embassy in Athens came under fire early Friday morning from a rocket attack. The U.K. FTSE 100 index lost 0.2%, Germany Xetra Dax slipped 0.1 %, while in France the CAC 40 was essentially flat.

[R]6:30AM European markets decline on Friday on SAP and Carrefour weak results.[/R]
European markets were lower on Friday. In early trade, the U.K. FTSE 100 index lost 0.2% at 6,220.80, Germany Xetra Dax slipped 0.1%, at 6,684.11, while in France the CAC 40 was essentially flat, slightly lower at 5,609.19.

Decliners

SAP plunged heavily, down 7.7% as the German software company took investors by surprise with disappointing fourth quarter results. Carrefour shed 4.7% after slower than forecast sales growth from the French retailer in the fourth quarter thus prompting widespread broker downgrades and price target reductions.

Advancers

Sodexho Alliance was in favor, advancing 3.3% as traders continued to expect stronger-then-anticipated first quarter sales which the French contract food and services group posted on Wednesday.

Accor staged a strong performance for a second session, adding 2.8% after two leading brokers stated French hotels group could return significant cash to shareholders through further asset sales.

Oil and gold

Oil rebounded from a 19-month low under $52 a barrel on Friday. US crude oil was up 71 cents at $52.59 a barrel in early electronic trade in London. Brent crude was up 93 cents at $52.63. Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $613.25 a troy ounce, down from $614.60 late Thursday.

Currencies

The dollar traded at 120.43 yen in early trade in London, from 120.50 late yesterday in New York. Against the euro, it was at $1.2911, from $1.2892. The pound today strengthened to 66.20 against the euro, its highest since June 2005, from 66.36 pence yesterday. It was also at $1.9467.

[R]5:00 AM Gold and silver end little changed Thursday on oil weakness.[/R]
February gold gained 50 cents to end at $613.90 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange while March silver finished up 1.5 cents at $12.46 an ounce. April platinum moved down $12 to close at $1,144.80 an ounce. March palladium advanced $1.95 to end at $332.85 an ounce. Most active March copper lost 0.50 cent to close at $2.6590 per pound, after moving above the previous session high to $2.70, its strongest level since Jan. 3.

The February crude oil contract shed $2.14 to end at $51.88 a barrel. It traded at an intraday low of $51.80 a barrel, a level not seen since May 2005. February heating oil slipped 4.51 cents to finish at $1.4804 a gallon. February gasoline settled down 3.87 cents to $1.3905 a gallon and February natural gas declined 46.3 cents to stop at $6.292 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, March Arabica coffee futures lost 0.10 cent to end at $1.2065 a pound, with May down 0.10 cent at $1.2375. March futures on raw sugar in foreign ports also dipped 0.10 cent to close at 11.02 cents a pound.