Banks Lead European Rally

Ivaylo
09 Feb, 2007
New York City

European markets advanced Friday as stocks which were under pressure on Thursday shine today. Banks were at the forefront of the rally, now that the hiking of interest rates has been delayed until probably next month. ABN Amro led the advance in the banking sector. Other gainers included SEB and Alcatel-Lucent. Daimler Chrysler boosted the auto stocks. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.7%, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.7% and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.8%.

[R]6:30AM European equities rebound Friday on banking stocks.[/R]
European markets were higher on Friday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.7% to 6,923.16, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.7% to 5,703.12 and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.8% to 6,394.7.

Advancers

Banks were in favor this morning. ABN Amro target price was upgraded on Friday by Fox-Pitt Kelton and the Dutch bank shares gained 1.7%. SEB, the Swedish bank, gained 1.7% after posting better-than-expected Q4 operating profit on strong capital market trading gains. In the telecom sector, Alcatel-Lucent gained 2.9% in spite of reporting a Q4 loss, as it targeted pre-tax savings of 1.7 billion euros over the next three years, and cutting up to 12,500 jobs. DaimlerChrysler lifted the auto sector after Citigroup upgraded the German carmaker from hold to buy and Peugeot rebounded 1.3%, having fallen in the previous two sessions after posting a narrower operating margin in 2006.

Decliners

Sanofi-Aventis shares led the decline in Paris, trading down 2.7% after it said that it lost a patent infringement suit filed in a U.S. district court in California against Amphastar and Teva Pharmaceutical over the Lovenox drug.

Oil and gold

Crude oil declined as traders reassessed the impact of an oilfield shutdown in California that triggered prices rally above $60 a barrel for the first time in five weeks. Oil for March delivery dropped 22 cents to $59.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early trade in London. Brent crude oil declined 35 cents to $58.68 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Gold fell in London as a five-week rally to prices above $660 an ounce failed to attract new buyers. Gold for immediately delivery dropped $1.50, or 0.2%, to $658.95 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar inched back slightly against the euro on Friday, after indications by the European Central Bank that it would increase its key interest rates next month. The 13-nation euro bought $1.3003 in early Friday trading, down slightly from $1.3038 in late New York trading. The British pound bought $1.9458, down from the $1.9580 it reached Thursday following a decision by the Bank of England to keep its rates unchanged at 5.25%. The dollar advanced slightly against the Japanese yen, to 121.45, up from 121.05 yen Thursday.

[R]5:00AM Gold gains Thursday as Iran threatens to strike back on likely attack.[/R]
April gold surged to $662.80, up $5.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange while March silver contract settled 6 cents higher at $13.77 an ounce. April platinum lost $4.70 to end at $1,198.30 an ounce, while March palladium declined $4.20 to finish at $341 an ounce. The most-active March copper contract fell 0.45 cent to settle at $2.4505 per pound.

The front-month March crude oil contract gained $2.00 to end at $59.71 a barrel. March heating oil also ended up 5.89 cents at $1.725 a gallon and March gasoline added 5.18 cents to close at $1.593 a gallon. March natural gas settled up 16.2 cents at $7.871 per million British thermal units, the highest level this year, after a U.S. government report showed slightly higher-than-expected withdrawals from gas in underground storage last week.

Arabica coffee futures dipped to two-week lows. The March contract lost 1.30 cent to end at $1.1555 a pound, with May down 1.30 cent at $1.1855. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March advanced 0.16 cent to 10.28 cents a pound, with May up 0.14 cent at 10.41 cents.