European Markets Up; Philips Reports Profit

Mayank Mehta
13 Jul, 2009
New York City

European markets closed higher on the back of rally in banking and steelmaker stocks in Germany and France. Banks surged on the hopes that the U.S. banks earnings this week in New York will be better than expectations. Thyssen Krupp, Salzgitter, ArcelorMittal jumped. Philips gained on earnings.

[R]7:00 PM Frankfurt, Paris; 2:00 PM New York – European markets closed higher on the back of rally in banking and steelmaker stocks in Germany and France. Banks surged on the hopes that the U.S. banks earnings this week in New York are expected to be ahead of expectations.[/R]

European markets closed higher after a rally in New York. The strength in banks in New York ahead of earnings this week lifted the trading sentiment in European markets.

Philips NV reported net income in the second quarter of 44 million euros. Sales in the quarter declined 19% to 5.2 billion euros. Philips in Amsterdam trading surged 7.3% to 13.89 euros.

The news lifted Siemens by 4.4% to 48.49 euros and Infineon Technologies AG by 5% to 2.86 euros.

K+S AG declined 3% to 36.75 euros after UBS speculated that potash prices will decline after Russia based OAO Silvinit has signed contract to sell 850,000 tons of potash by the end of the first quarter next year at $460 a ton, 9% lower than the current market price. The news was first reported on Bloomberg.

Porsche SE surged nearly 10% to 46.45 euros on German media speculation that Qatar is likely to pay 7 billion euros to acquire the stake in the automaker.

Lafarge SA increased 3% to 44.11 euros after UBS lifted rating on the French cement maker.

ArcelorMittal increased 4.5% to 21.90 euros after Korea based Posco revised higher its production target. The news also helped Salzgitter to rise by 3.5% to 61.43 euros and ThyssenKrupp AG by 0.8% to 16.79 euros.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 74.96 or 1.82% to 4,202.13, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 68.98 or 2.31% to close at 3,052.08 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 146.03 or 3.19% to close at 4,722.34. In Zurich trading SMI increased 77.48 or 1.48% to close at 5,315.29.

DAX Index Movers

K+S AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 2.76%.

Daimler AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 5.76% followed by increase in Volkswagen AG of 5.02% in BASF SE of 4.27%, in Bayer AG of 4.02%, in Hannover Rueckversicherung AG of 3.77%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

Lagardere SCA led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 0.31%.

Alcatel Lucent gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 7.18% followed by gains in Credit Agricole SA of 5.11%, in Bouygues SA of 4.58%, in ArcelorMittal of 4.48%, in STMicroelectronics N.V. of 3.87%.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 94 increased, 7 declined and 1 were unchanged.

Fresnillo Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 2.39% followed by losses in Xstrata plc of 2.35%, in Lonmin Plc of 1.40%, in Associated British Foods plc of 0.71%, in Kazakhmys PLC of 0.51%.

Friends Provident plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 12.58% followed by increase in Legal & General Group Plc of 8.68%, in Aviva Plc of 7.41%, in Old Mutual Plc of 6.54%, in British Airways Plc of 5.50%.