European Markets Decline; Valeo, VW in Focus

Mayank Mehta
20 Oct, 2009
New York City

European stocks traded lower in the afternoon after the release of weak U.S. housing data. Deutsche Bank agreed to acquire assets from ABN Amro. Volkswagen fell after it agreed to purchase 49.9% of Porsche SE. Valeo SA reported a net profit in the third quarter and raised its outlook.

[R]7:00PM Frankfurt, Paris; 1:00 PM New York – European stocks traded lower in the afternoon after the release of weak U.S. housing data. Deutsche Bank agreed to acquire assets from ABN Amro. Volkswagen fell after it agreed to purchase 49.9% of Porsche SE. Valeo reported a net profit in the third quarter and raised its outlook.[/R]

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 38.14 or 0.72% to 5,243.40, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 20.91 or 0.54% to close at 3,871.45, in Frankfurt DAX index lower 40.79 or 0.70% to close at 5,811.77. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 9.08 or 0.14% to close at 6,427.29.

Gainers & Losers

Arcandor AG plunged 15.7% to €0.18 after the tourism and retail group said that it has decided to liquidate the group''s German mail-order business, Quelle Deutschland, due to a lack of investors’ interest.

BASF SE fell 0.3% to €40.67 after the chemical maker agreed Monday to pay nearly $400,000 in fines and to repair leaking equipment at its Beaumont, Texas and several other facilities.

BioMerieux SA added 2.1% to €79.04.

Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG the equipment maker for silicon production, solar cells and panels rose 6.3% to €34.41 after Deutsche Bank in a research note rated the stock with a “buy” rating.

CNP Assurances SA rose 1.9% to €74.93 after the life insurer was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” at UBS AG.

Daimler AG fell 0.9% to €37.28 after the maker of luxury cars said truck division is expected to report a third quarter loss of $190 million, according to preliminary figures released Monday.

Delticom AG dropped 0.9% to €21.79 after the online tire dealer said nine-month revenues increased 15% to €201 million.

Deutsche Bank AG fell 0.04% to €55.99 and it agreed to acquire some of the assets from ABN Amro Holdings NV and terms of the final conditions are still in negotiations.

Emailvision SA close unchanged at €2.25 and the company released iPhone application.

E.ON AG added 1.1% to €26.52 after the utility operator said Electrabel S.A. of Belgium has been authorized to acquire certain power plants and drawing rights on electricity generation capacity in Germany.

Faurecia SA decreased 6.1% to €16.23 after the maker of automotive interiors posted 21% drop in third quarter sales and the company raised its second half outlook.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA fell 1% to €74.11 after the luxury-goods maker said third quarter sales declined 0.6% as wholesale demand from retailers of its wines & spirits and watches & jewelry remained weak.

MAN SE fell 0.7% to €59.68 after the truckmaker said that it has placed Sabine Drzisga, the executive board member at its unit MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, on leave in connection with an internal corruption probe.

Manz Automation AG the solar-cell machine maker dropped 2.5% to €55.42 on a “sell” rating from Deutsche Bank.

MorphoSys AG added 1.3% to €17.74 after the biotechnology company formed an alliance with Daiichi Sankyo Company in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies for hospital-acquired infections.

PCAS SA the maker of pharmaceutical ingredients surged 11.3% to €3.05.

Q-Cells SE the field of photovoltaic rose 1.2% to €12.82.

Sogefi SpA added 0.3% to €1.55 an automotive parts and components company reported third quarter sales fell 22.5% to €199.3 million from €257.0 million a year ago. Net profit in the quarter fell 79% to €2.00 million compared to net profit of €9.5 million a year ago.

Swedbank AB the bank reported third quarter net interest income fell 4% to SEK5.02 billion from €5.24 billion a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was SEK3.34 billion or SEK3.57 per diluted share compared to net profit of SEK2.47 billion or SEK3.81 per share a year ago.

Valeo SA increased 3.7% to €21.65 after it reported third quarter net income of 4 million and increased its second half forecast. Sales in the quarter decreased 8% to €1.91 billion and operating profit increased 5% to €68 million. The company also said that the France controlled state fund has agreed not to increase its current stake of 8.3% above 15% without the prior approval of the board.

Volkswagen declined 2.4% to €118.51 after it agreed to acquire 49.9% of the stake compared to 42% announced earlier for €3.9 billion. Porsche decreased 0.9% to €59.35.

DAX Index Movers

Allianz SE led the decliners in the DAX index of 2.89% followed by losses in Volkswagen AG of 2.32%, in Adidas AG of 2.21%, in Basf SE of 1.89%, in Bayer AG of 1.83%.

Bmw AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 1.94% followed by increase in K+S AG of 1.83%, in E.ON AG of 1.48%, in Rwe AG of 1.524%, in Infineon Technologies AG of 0.39%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 3.57% followed by losses in Lafarge S.A. of 2.58% in Alstom SA of 2.46%, in Michelin SCA of 2.38%, Eads NV of 2.37%.

Pernod Ricard SA gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 1.80% followed by gainers in Carrefour SA of 1.53%, GDF Suez SA of 1.00%, in France Telecom S.A.of 0.74%, in Unibail-Rodamco SA of 0.50%.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 39 increased, 61 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Autonomy Corporation Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 8.03% followed by losses in Barclays Plc of 4.65%, in Wolseley Plc of 3.28%, in Cairn Energy Plc of 2.74%, in Burberry Group Plc of 2.52%.

J Sainsbury Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 5.27% followed by increase in Pearson Plc of 4.62%, in Man Group Plc of 2.14%, in British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc of 1.74%, in Smiths Group Plc of 1.67%.