Europe Trades Broadly Lower

Ivaylo
15 May, 2007
New York City

European market traded in a tight mid-session range Tuesday, with miners still under pressure and other equities showing some general caution ahead of key U.S. data. Nokia led the gainers after it announced it won greated market share. The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% and the German DAX Xetra 30 index inched up less than 0.1%. The French CAC-40 index slipped 0.2%.

[R]6:30AM European markets inch lower Tuesday in subdued trading.[/R]

National benchmarks declined in 10 of 18 markets in western Europe. The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% at 6,562.50 and the German DAX Xetra 30 index inched up less than 0.1% to 7,461.36. The French CAC-40 index slipped 0.2% at 6,015.82.

Advancers

Nokia led the gainers, up 3.9% on Monday, firming up as the world top mobile handsetmaker, after the groupannounced it was winning greater market share. Nokia envisages having more than 36% of the global cellphone market in the second quarter, benefiting from strong growth in emerging markets.

DaimlerChrysler gained 1.8% after the German carmaker sold 80.1% of its loss-making Chrysler unit for $7.4 billion to Cerberus, the private equity group. DaimlerChrysler strength lifted Renault, up 2.5%.

More talk about consolidation in the Italian banking sector pushed Capitalia up 1.4% on talks of an imminent bid from rival UniCredit, 0.9% higher.

Decliners

Atos Origin dropped 13.8% as the French IT company stated that all discussions regarding a possible sale of the business had been terminated. Atos will continue with its restructuring plans, moving more staff offshore. The group is expected to look for Asian acquisitions.

Alstom announced better-than-expected full-year results with net income up by 152% to 448 million euros. But the French transport and power group dipped 1.7% amid disappointment with guidance on future profit margins.

Endemol slipped 0.6% after Telefonica sold its remaining 75% stake in the television production company which makes Big Brother for 2.63 billion euros to a consortium which include Mediaset.

Deutsche Postbank fell 1.1% amid disappointment at its first-quarter results which came in below consensus expectations.

Merck KGaA eased 0.7% after agreeing to sell its generics division to Mylan Laboratories of the US for 4.9 billion euros.

Commodities

Gold for immediate delivery shed $1.20, or 0.2%, to $668.55 an ounce, while silver for immediate delivery lost 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $13.13 an ounce. Aluminum for immediate delivery in London yesterday fell 1.9%, copper fell 3.1 %, lead, 0.6%, nickel, 2.6%, and zinc, 2.6%.

Crude oil for June delivery advanced 9 cents to $62.55 a barrel, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil for June settlement fell 20 cents to $66.63 a barrel in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange. Gasoline for June delivery fell for the second day and was trading at $2.2816 a gallon, down 1.96 cents in New York.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Tuesday morning. The euro traded at $1.3533, down from $1.3541 late Monday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9758, up from $1.9732. The dollar fetched 120.41 Japanese yen, up from 120.29.

[R]5:00AM Gold and copper declined Monday, while energy shares ended modestly higher.[/R]

The most active July copper contract ended 10.7 cents lower at $3.4970 per pound, while July platinum shed $12.40 to $1,329.30 an ounce. June gold finished down, $2.20 lower at $670.10 an ounce, July silver was off 7 cents at $13.235 an ounce, and June palladium shed $7.95 to $360.70 an ounce.

The June crude oil advanced 9 cents to $62.46 a barrel after rallying to $63.07 a barrel. June gasoline futures slipped 5.09 cents to settle at $2.3012 a gallon, and June heating oil dipped 1.55 cents to finish at $1.8668 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery were supported by fund buying and closed 5.3 cents higher at $7.952 a million British thermal units Monday, after hitting a high of $8.112 in earlier trading.

July soybeans climbed 8.75 cents to $7.7050 a bushel, and November soybeans ended 8.75 cents stronger at $7.9950 a bushel. July wheat finished 3.5 cents higher at $4.9650 per bushel, while July corn declined 6 cents to $3.6325 a bushel.

Arabica coffee was aided by technical buying that sent the July contracts 1.15 cents higher at $1.0685 a pound and the September contracts 1.20 cents stronger at $1.0970 a pound. July raw sugar ended 0.18 cents lower at 9.11 cents a pound, while October sugar closed 0.14 cents weaker at 9.41 cents a pound.