Europe Advances on Utilities

Ivaylo
08 Mar, 2007
New York City

European stocks on Thursday were off to a solid start before interest-rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, with a gain for commodity producers and a batch of mostly well-received earnings from companies including Dutch insurer Aegon and French utility Suez leading the way. The German DAX Xetra 30 rose 0.4%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.5% and the U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.

[R]6:30AM Europe was higher Thursday morning on commodities, earnings.[/R]
European markets advanced on Thursday morning. The German DAX Xetra 30 rose 0.4% at 6,646.51, the French CAC 40 rose 0.5% at 5,481.55 and the U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.4% at 6,179.90.

Advancers

Suez, which is trying to merge with Gaz de France, advanced 1.3%. The firm announced its profit grew an above-forecast 43.5% to 3.6 billion euros, a record high, on cost reduction measures. Aegon advanced after reporting a 19% profit rise and Anglo Irish Bank climbed after saying first-half earnings per share should rise 40%.

BP was up 1.2% extending gains from Wednesday on an unexpected dwindling of U.S. energy inventories. Veolia shares added 1.5% as a 23.5% dividend hike to 1.05 euros a share offset a below-forecast profit increase of 22% to 759 million euros. PPR the owner of French department stores and the luxury goods group Gucci, gained 1.4% having said its annual profit rose a stronger-than-forecast 28%.

Decliners

Carrefour, one of the most volatile stocks on Wednesday, were flat although it said 2006 profit jumped 58% to 2.27 billion euros or up an in-line 3% when excluding sale of its Korean operations. Pernod Ricard shares slipped 3.9% after the maker of Martell brandy reported a below-forecast 2.4% first-half profit rise.

Oil and gold

Crude oil traded near $62 a barrel in New York on speculation that gasoline demand will rise as the summer driving season approaches in the U.S. Crude oil for April delivery rose 5 cents to $61.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early trade in London. Brent crude fell 1 cent to $62.49 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Gold opened Thursday at a bid price of $652.35 a troy ounce, up from $647.50 late Wednesday.

Currencies

The euro has risen 0.8% against the dollar in the past month to $1.3150 on the premise the central bank will increase its main refinancing rate to 3.75% from 3.50%. The yen dropped to 154.08 per euro in London from 152.93 in New York late yesterday. It fell to 117.15 against the dollar from 116.06. The pound gained against the yen and climbed for a third day versus the dollar before interest-rate setting meeting today by the Bank of England. Against the yen, the pound rose to 226.10 and was at 225.69 by in London from 224.35 late yesterday. The pound advanced against the dollar, trading at $1.9347 compared with 1.9330 yesterday.

[R]5:30AM Gold and silver advanced on Wednesday on stronger oil, lower dollar.[/R]
April gold advanced $6.70 to $652.90 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May silver rose 12 cents to $13.105. April platinum dropped $3.30 to $1,195.50 an ounce, while June palladium dropped 25 cents to $351.65 an ounce. The most-active May copper contract rose 7.40 cents to settle at $2.7875 per pound.

The front-month April crude oil contract settled up $1.13 at $61.82 a barrel after trading as low as $60.64. April gasoline added 4.22 cents to end at $1.8955 a gallon. Front-month April heating oil settled up 2.01 cents at $1.7674 a gallon. April natural gas settled down 10.6 cents at $7.366 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, March Arabica coffee futures settled down 0.90 cent at $1.1110 a pound, with May off 0.80 cent at $1.1220. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for May settled down 0.08 cent at 10.68 cents a pound, with July off 0.06 cent at 10.58 cents.