DSG Leads London Lower

Ivaylo
17 Jan, 2007
New York City

U.K. stocks declined, led by DSG International Plc after the electronics retailer said profit margins declined. SABMiller Plc limited benchmarks'' losses. The brewer said it sold 10 percent more beer in its third quarter after expanding in emerging markets. While DSG came under pressure, Home Retail Group gained as it said stronger margins had offset weaker sales. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 0.1% to 6210.00, by mid-day in London.

[R]9:30AM NY-2:30PM London The FTSE slips on DSG weak results.[/R]
The benchmark FTSE 100 Index declined 0.1% to 6210.00, by mid-day in London.

Economic news

Average earnings growth in the UK remained flat in the quarter to November, while the number of people claiming jobless benefits declined for the third straight month, according to official data released on Wednesday.

Decliners

DSG, the second largest electronics retailer in Europe, plunged 9.3%. Gross profit margins in the 8 weeks ended Jan. 6 fell 0.7%, the company announced, as it sold cheaper goods and its Italian business struggled.

Alliance & Leicester, the seventh- largest bank in U.K., dropped 1.7%. The shares were reduced to sell from neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Rio Tinto Group dropped 1.3%. The third-largest mining company in the world said quarterly iron ore production declined from a record because of extended maintenance at its mines in western Australia.

Ryanair Holdings, the biggest budget airline in Europe, fell 0.4%. The shares were reduced to sell from hold at ABN Amro Holding NV.

Advancers

SABMiller jumped 3.2%. The brewer of Pilsner Urquell and Peroni Nastro Azzurro sold more beer in the three months ended Dec. 31 after expanding in countries such as Colombia.

Centrica added 2.5%. Merrill Lynch. raised a recommendation on shares of the gas distributor to buy from neutral.

Home Retail Group, owner of the U.K. second- largest home improvement retailer, added 1.6%. The company expects annual profit at its Argos and Homebase chains to be near the top of analysts'' estimates.

Woolworths Group advanced 0.8%. The U.K. retailer agreed to buy book distributor Bertram Group Ltd. and said annual profit will meet analysts'' estimates after a sales drop slowed during the Christmas period.

Provident Financial, a U.K. lender to low-income households, added 2.5%. The company said it may sell its U.K. auto insurance business after it received offers.

[R]7:30 AM Asian markets closed mixed Wednesday with Japan up and China down.[/R]
Asian markets finished mixed on Wednesday. The Nikkei Index in Japan closed 0.3% higher at 17,261. Nippon Steel gained 0.9 and JFE Holdings rose 1.4%. Mitsubishi Estate advanced 2.9% and Mitsui Fudosan jumped 1.9%. On the other hand, Shinsei Bank dipped 6.1% after late Tuesday revising down its profit outlook for the year ending in March.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index gained 0.2% to 20,065. Cheung Kong advanced 0.6% after Lehman Brothers upgraded its target price on the stock. Henderson Land added 0.9% and Sino Land advanced 1.9%. In contrast, oil producers decline on the plunge in oil prices. PetroChina shed 4.4%, Cnooc slipped 1.5% and Sinopec fell 3.5%.

The Kospi Index in South Korea lost 0.7% to 1,379. Samsung Electronics closed 1.8% lower and Hynix Semiconductor declined 4.5%. LG.Philips LCD dipped 4.1% on weak Q4 results. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged 1.5% to 2,779. China Vanke, Poly Real Estate Group and China Merchants Property Development all ended 10% lower, the daily limit.

Australian S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to close at 5,646. With a weak Q4 performance from Rio Tinto and a profit outlook reduced from its coal mining unit Coal & Allied, the miner shed 1.7% while rival BHP slipped 1.5%. Macquarie Bank lost 0.8%, St. George Bank dropped 1.9% and ANZ Bank gave up 0.8%. Taipei ended 0.5% higher at 7,834

[R]6:30 AM European stocks were higher Wednesday on strong tech sector.[/R]
European markets were higher on Wednesday. By mid-morning, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% at 6,221.10, the German DAX Xetra 30 index increased 0.2% at 6,728.33 and the French CAC-40 index advanced 0.1% at 5,596.90.

Advancers

ASML Holding shares rallied 4.9% after announcing that its fourth-quarter net income jumped to 205.5 million euros, or $265.2 million from 51.6 million euros a year ago, net sales rose 95% to 1.07 billion euros and that it intends to start another share buyback program.

Ericsson rose 1.7% after its Sony Ericsson mobile-phone joint venture with Japanese company Sony posted a fourth-quarter profit of 447 million euros, or $578 million from 144 million euros a year earlier, boosted by the sales of Walkman phones.

SABMiller advanced 3.5% after it said that its financial performance was in line with its expectations despite adverse price recovery.

Decliners

Miners fell on weaker commodity prices. Rio Tinto fell 1.5%. Output of iron ore, second- highest profit contributor of the company, dropped to 35.1 million metric tons in the three months ended Dec. 31 from 35.7 million tons in the previous quarter. Anglo American Plc, the world-second biggest mining company, dropped 1.5% on a decline in copper.

Shares in EADS slid 2.5% after it said that its Airbus subsidiary is likely to post a loss before interest and tax in 2006 after delays to its flagship A380 program resulted in increased costs.

Oil futures and commodity prices

Oil prices recovered Wednesday after plunging to 19-month lows after the oil minister of Saudi Arabia said further OPEC productions cuts were not necessary right now. Light sweet crude oil futures for February delivery rose 38 cents to $51.59 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. February Brent crude on London ICE futures exchange increased 40 cents to $52.02 a barrel.

Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as $1.60, or 0.3%, to $623.20 an ounce and traded at $624.60 in early trading. It settled at $624.80 in New York late yesterday. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange fell $56, or 1%, to trade at $5,659 a ton

Currencies

The euro lost some ground against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday despite lackluster economic reports from the United States. The 13-nation euro bought $1.2921 in morning European trading, compared with $1.2923 late Tuesday, as the dollar shrugged off a report by New York Federal Reserve that its Empire State Manufacturing index dropped to 9.1 in January from 22.2 in December.

The pound was also barely changed against the dollar, buying $1.9642, compared with $1.9626 on Tuesday. The dollar was slightly higher against the Japanese yen, edging up to 120.64 yen from 120.60 on Tuesday as speculation whether the Bank of Japan next interest rate move.

[R]5:00 AM Gold futures decline on Tuesday on stronger dollar, weaker oil.[/R]
Gold for February delivery finished down by $1 at $625.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver closed 25.5 cents lower, or 2%, at $12.625 an ounce, April platinum fell $6.30 to end at $1,145.80 an ounce and March copper futures slipped 2.55 cents to end at $2.5775 a pound. March palladium closed up 90 cents at $335.85 an ounce.

Oil stocks fell Tuesday, with a 3% drop in crude oil prices. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi triggered the slide, telling reporters at an oil conference in India that he sees no need for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to launch a fresh round of output cuts. The February futures contract closed $1.78 lower at $51.21 a barrel. February gasoline futures closed down 6.27 cents at $1.3693 a gallon and February heating oil closed down 2.33 cents at $1.4803 a gallon. February natural-gas futures gained by 3.7 cents to close at $6.638 per million British thermal units, recovering from a low of $6.46.