Earnings Buoy European Markets

Ivaylo
18 Jan, 2001
New York City

European equities moved higher by mid-morning on Thursday, helped by strength in the oil, financials, travel and media sectors, on a busy day for corporate earnings releases. Commodity companies such as Total rose on strength in oil prices and well-received earnings from Merck KGaA. By mid-morning, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 37 points, or 0.5%, while the German Xetra Dax added 28 points, or 0.4%, and the French CAC 40 gained 34.8 points or 0.6%.

[R]6:30 AM European markets gains on strength in oil shares, upbeat earnings.[/R]
European markets were higher on Thursday. By mid-morning, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 37 points, or 0.5% at 6,237.10, while the German Xetra Dax added 28 points, or 0.4%, at 6,729.78 and the French CAC 40 gained 34.8 points or 0.6% at 5,96.59.

Advancers

Dexia led advaners with a gain of 2.9% after the Franco-Belgian bank was upgraded from neutral to outperform by Exane BNP Paribas.

Alsthom added 2.4% after the French industrial group reported encouraging growth in new orders along with third quarter sales in-line with market expectations.

Merck was 0.6% higher after the German drugs and chemicals company beat analysts expectations with a 58 % increase in fourth-quarter operating profits, helped by a recovery in the sales of liquid crystals used in televisions and mobile phones.

Oil stocks gained, helped by a modest recovery in crude prices with Statoil of Norway 2.1% higher while Neste Oil of Finland added 1.3 %.

Decliners

Novartis dipped 0.4% after the Swiss drugs giant posted record full-year year of sales and profits but warned growth would slow in 2007 before picking up again from 2008.

Belgium supermarket group Delhaize declined 2.6% after it said that its fourth-quarter sales dipped 1% to 4.8 billion euros, mainly due to the U.S. dollar weakening against the euro. At constant exchange rates, sales would have risen by 4.6%

Oil and commodities

Crude oil for February delivery fell as much as 39 cents, or 0.8%, to $51.85 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $52.97 in early trade in London. Brent crude for March settlement dropped 12 cents at $52.67 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Gold for immediate delivery climbed $2.60, or 0.4%, to $634.40 an ounce in London. Silver rose 10.6 cents to $12.91 an ounce, palladium gained 50 cents to $339.50 an ounce and platinum advanced $8.50 to $1,156 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Thursday morning. The euro traded at $1.2940, up from $1.2932 late Wednesday. The British pound traded at $1.9724, up from $1.9691. The dollar was at 121.37 Japanese yen, up from 120.67.

[R]5:00 AM Gold gains Wednesday as crude oil strengthen and the dollar slips.[/R]
At settlement, the most-active February gold gained $7.40 to end at $633.30 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver futures advanced with gold and finished 26.5 cents higher at $12.89 an ounce. April platinum finished $8.80 stronger at $1,154.60 an ounce, and March palladium settled $7.10 higher at $342.95 an ounce. March copper futures were on the defensive for most of the session and shed 0.80 cents to settle at $2.5695 a pound.

Crude oil futures staged a late recovery and rose above $52 a barrel. The February crude contract gained $1.03 to close at $52.24 a barrel. February heating oil added 1.95 cents to finish at $1.4998 a gallon Wednesday. February gasoline settled at $1.3786 a gallon. February natural gas futures dipped 40.4 cents and ended at $6.234 a million British thermal units.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, soybean futures closed sharply higher. March soybeans ended 13.5 cents higher at $7.22 a bushel. In corn futures trading, the March contracts finished 5 cents higher to $4.08 per bushel. Arabica coffee futures finished slightly lower on the New York Board of Trade Wednesday, as March coffee closed 0.05 cent lower at $1.2160 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports declined, but they pared losses after trade house buying blunted a selloff. March sugar settled 0.15 cent lower at 10.76 cents a pound.