Indexes in Germany, France Down 3%

123jump.com Staff
30 Oct, 2009
New York City

European markets declined on weak read on consumer confidence and a decline in U.S. consumer spending. French index closed 5% for the month and German index lost 4.6% in the month. Lufthansa loss shrank. Indesit Company SpA net profit rises despite a fall in sales.

[R]7:00PM Frankfurt, Paris; 1:00 PM New York – European markets declined on weak read on consumer confidence and a decline in U.S. consumer spending. French index closed 5% for the month and German index lost 4.6% in the month. Lufthansa loss shrank.[/R]

European markets closed lower after a weakness in the U.S. consumer spending and a fall in U.S. confidence index. Lufthansa loss in the nine-month period shrank. Indesit Company SpA net profit rises despite a fall in sales.

The Federal Statistics Office in Germany said September retail sales adjusted for inflation and seasonality declined 0.5% from August. Sales decreased 3.9% from a year ago month.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 93.17 or 1.81% to 5,044.55, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 106.33 or 2.86% to close at 3,607.69, in Frankfurt DAX index lower 172.49 or 3.09% to close at 5,414.96. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 65.51 or 1.03% to close at 6,285.76.

Gainers & Losers

Accor SA rose 2.4% to €34.66 after the hotel company was upgraded to “hold” from “sell” at Standard & Poor’s.

Aixtron AG increased 8.0% to €20.75 after the maker of specialized equipment used to produce LED screens was upgraded to “outperform” from “neutral” at Exane BNP Paribas.

Alstom SA decreased 0.03% to €48.54 an engineering company said first-half sales rose 8% to €9.7 billion from €9.0 billion a year ago. Net profit in the first-half rose 7% to €562 million compared to net profit of €527 million a year ago.

Alcatel Lucent SA fell 11% to €2.57 after the supplier of phone network reported wider third quarter loss of €182 million compared to €174.4 million.

Alstria office REIT-AG rose 0.5% to €7.50 after the real-estate investment trust said that it has agreed to sell a portfolio of real estate totaling €93.4 million.

Air France-KLM rose 1.6% to €11.18. The state controlled carrier will use one of the ten newly ordered A380 superjumbo planes to fly between Paris and New York on November 20.

ArcelorMittal climbed 0.7% to €24.38 after the steelmaker was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Societe Generale SA.

Arkema SA fell 0.2% to €27.20 after the chemicals maker was upgraded to “add” from “reduce” at AlphaValue.

BMW AG fell 0.09% to €33.89.

Cegedim SA the supplies sales-tracking software for drugmakers rose 0.7% to €67.96.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG climbed 1.2% to €10.77 after the airline operator reported nine months sales fell 13% to €16.2 billion from €18.6 billion a year ago. Net loss in the nine months was €32 million or €0.07 per diluted share compared to net profit of €529 million or €1.16 per share a year ago.

Eurazeo SA added 0.6% to €44.44 after the publicly traded private equity firm was upgraded to “add” from “reduce” at AlphaValue.

E.ON AG rose 0.3% to €26.77 after the utility was upgraded to “overweight” from “underweight” at HSBC Holdings Plc.

Henkel AG & Co added 0.8% to €31.86 after the household consumer products maker said third quarter sales fell 2.5% to €3.49 billion. Operating profit amounted to €290 million. Adjusted operating profit fell 1.5% to €385 million to €391 million a year ago.

Ipsen SA fell 0.5% to €35.31 after the pharmaceutical company said third quarter drug sales increased 9.4%.

Indesit Company SpA increased 4.0% to €8.06 after the household electrical goods supplier said third quarter sales fell 16.8% to €713.8 million from €858.3 million a year ago. Net profit in the quarter rose 14.4% to €29.4 million or €0.28 per diluted share compared to net profit of €25.7 million or €0.25 per share a year ago.

Lagardere SCA climbed 0.4% to €31.99 after the publisher was upgraded to “add” from “reduce” at AlphaValue.

Linde AG the industrial gas producer fell 0.7% to €73.45.

Renault SA increased 3.6% to €32.27 after the manufacturer of automobiles and related services reported third quarter group sales fell 11.3% to €8.10 billion from €9.14 billion a year ago. Automobile sales fell 11.2% to €7.66 billion from €8.63 billion a year ago. Sales financing fell 12.7% to €438 million from €502 million a year ago.

Rhoen-Klinikum AG rose 0.7% to €16.68 after the publicly traded hospital operator was upgraded to “neutral” at Credit Suisse Group AG.

Sanofi-Aventis rose 0.2% to €50.98 after the pharmaceutical group said third quarter sales rose 8% to €7.4 billion from €6.85 billion a year ago. Net profit in the quarter rose 16% to €2.23 billion or €1.71 per diluted share compared to net profit of €1.92 billion or €1.47 per share a year ago.

Seche Environnement SA the water company fell 0.1% to €56.89.

Societe Generale SA rose 2.3% to €47.21 and staff union is likely to strike for one day on November 24.

Siemens AG the engineering company rose 1.4% to €63.60.

STMicroelectronics N.V advanced 1.5% to €5.78 after the chipmaker was upgraded to “buy” from “sell” at AlphaValue.

TA Triumph-Adler AG fell 2.6% to €1.85 after the copy machine distributor said that it is no longer expecting that it will achieve revenue of more than €300 million in fiscal year 2009.

DAX Index Movers

Infineon Technologies AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 8.08% followed by losses in Deutsche Boerse AG of 5.42%, in Commerzbank AG of 5.39%, in Diamler AG of 5.30%, Deutsche Bank AG of 5.30%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

Alcatel Lucent led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 10.61% followed by losses in Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA of 6.72% in Bouygues SA of 6.13%, in ArcelorMittal of 5.08%, Technip of 4.61%.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 19 increased, 82 declined and 1 were unchanged.

Kazakhmys Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 8.18% followed by losses in Fresnillo Plc of 7.54%, in Xstrata Plc of 6.81%, in Lonmin Plc of 6.46%, in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Plc of 6.24%.

Shire Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 4.69% followed by increase in G4S Plc of 2.18%, in Tui Travel Plc of 1.35%, in Land Securities Group Plc of 1.22%, in Lloyds Banking Group Plc of 1.20%.