London Up, Frankfurt, Paris Down

Ivaylo
07 Jun, 2007
New York City

European markets were mixed on Thursday after financial, technology and auto stocks regained territories, lost on Wednesday, although retailers and construction groups were still lower on interest rate worries. By late morning in London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.4%, while in Germany, Frankfurt Xetra Dax slipped 0.1% and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.3%.

[R]7:00AM European stocks trade mixed with London up, and Germany, France down.[/R]

European markets were mixed on Thursday. By late morning in London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.4% to 6,547.9, while in Germany, Frankfurt Xetra Dax slipped 0.1% to 7,721.99 and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.3% to 5,957.89. National benchmarks fell in 10 of the 16 western European markets that were open.

Advancers

ASML, maker of chip manufacturing equipment, rose 2% after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the chip sector to overweight, on the gounds of the industry having reached the bottom of its trading cycle and on the premise that growth would improve in the third quarter. Infineon, the German chipmaker, was upgraded from underperform to market perform. The stock gained 0.6%.

MAN, whose target price was raised, gained 0.6%. DaimlerChrysler, the German carmaker, rose 1.4% after Morgan Stanley raised its target price on the stock. The broker added the company truckmaking division, which accounts for 55% of the share price, had not benefitted from the re-rating of the truck industry.

Decliners

Retail stocks remained weak on concerns that further interest rate increases in the eurozone could foster a consumer slowdown. Swedish fashion retailer H&M fell 2.3% while Spanish rival Inditex lost 1.5%.

Swedish Volvo shed 2.5% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock from neutral to underweight on its lower exposure in eastern Europe. SKF fell 1.9%. Morgan Stanley reiterated his underweight recommendation, on a short-term trading opportunity in switching to Sandvik AB shares.

Commodities

Crude oil for July delivery rose 33 cents, or 0.5%, to $66.29 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude oil for July settlement dropped 4 cents to $70.98 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Gold for immediate delivery was unchanged $670.75 an ounce. Silver fell 2 cents, or 0.2%, to $13.68.

Currencies

The euro inched down against the dollar and was at $1.3504 from $1.3506. Against the euro, the British pound traded little changed at 67.75 pence in London. It was also little changed versus the dollar at $1.9928 from $1.9925 yesterday. Against the dollar, the yen dropped to 121.24, falling from a three-week high of 120.78 and from 121.08 late in New York yesterday.

[R]5:30AM NY -4:30PM Mumbai Sensex is slightly higher in mid-afternoon trade Thursday.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE is up 2.36 points to 14,256.79 in mid-afternoon trading on Thursday.

Advancers

IT large-caps are firmly in positive territory on a weaker rupee against the dollar. Satyam has surged 3.6% to Rs 482, and Wipro has rallied 3% to Rs 548. Infosys and TCS are higher around 1% each at Rs 1,961 and Rs 1,210, respectively. Reliance Communications and Hindalco have advanced 1.5% each to Rs 524 and Rs 151, respectively.

Decliners

Hero Honda led the decliners in the Sensex stocks, down 2.49% to Rs 696. Index heavy Reliance Industries shed 0.36% to Rs 1,681. State Bank of India lost 1.24% to Rs 1,371 and ONGC dipped 0.69% to Rs 858. Larsen & Toubro declined 0.56% to Rs 1,912, despite the fact it secured a contract in United Arab Emirates.