Banks Weigh on European Sentiment

Ivaylo
30 Mar, 2007
New York City

European markets declined on Friday, as banks and telecom stocks weighed on sentiment, while concerns over escalating tensions between Britain and Iran raised oil prices. The banking sector was mainly down as investors took profits after recent gains. Financials in Germany were higher, though, on bid speculation. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax was fractionally lower, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2% and London FTSE 100 shed 0.3%.

[R]6:30AM European stocks were lower on Friday on financials and telecom stocks.[/R]
European markets were lower on Friday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax was fractionally lower at 6,893.94, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2% to 5,618.07 and London FTSE 100 shed 0.3% to 6,303.5.

Advancers

German financial stocks advnaced on takeover speculation on comments from Citigroup earlier in the week that hinted the US bank was looking possible targets in Germany. Commerzbank gained 2.8%, while Deutsche Bank added 1%, and Deutsche Postbank climbed 1.6%.

Decliners

Britain Vodafone led telecommunications stocks down as it warned of tough competition and regulatory pressures through to 2008. The stock fell 3.3%. Telekom Austria fell 1.9% after Bear Stearns lowered its target price. Shares in Telenor fell 1.4%.

Oil and gold

Oil prices kept rallying Friday as a standoff between Britain and Iran was taken to the United Nations and a nervous market worried that oil exports could be affected by the crisis. After settling at a six-month high a day earlier, crude oil futures rose another 45 cents to $66.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $662.90 a troy ounce, up from $658.70 late Thursday.

Currencies

The euro fell slightly against the dollar on Friday, a day after it gained on the U.S. currency following a dim growth report on the U.S. economy. The euro bought $1.3318, dropping marginally from $1.3335 in late New York trading on Thursday. The British pound also lost ground to the dollar, dropping to $1.9570 from $1.9619 in New York. The dollar edged up slightly on the Japanese yen, to 118 yen, from 117.9 the previous day.

[R]5:30AM Gold finishes lower, while copper and crude oil advance.[/R]
June gold shed $5.30 to end at $667.60 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while May silver lost 11.5 cents to close at $13.34 an ounce. July platinum fell $10.20 to close at $1,247.60 an ounce, while June palladium was off $1.85 to settle at $356 an ounce. The most-active May copper contract gained 2.4 cents to settle at $3.0865 per pound.

The May crude oil futures contract gained $66.50 a barrel before finishing at $66.03 a barrel, up $1.95. April heating oil surged 4.98 cents to finish at $1.8772 a gallon. April gasoline soared 7.83 cents to $2.1355 a gallon. Front-month May natural gas futures, though, lost 6.3 cents to close at $7.609 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures declined, reaching the lowest levels in a week an a half, on selling by funds and locals. May coffee finished 2.1 cents lower at $1.1060 a pound, and July coffee closed 2 cents weaker at $1.1350 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports dipped to six-month lows as funds sold the front months. May sugar ended 0.27 cents lower at 9.85 cents a pound, while July sugar closed 0.24 cents weaker at 9.96 cents a pound.