European Indexes Lower; Nokia, H&M Surge

Mayank Mehta
28 Jan, 2010
New York City

European indexes closed lower and Nokia and H&M reported better than expected earnings. Nokia surged more than 12% and H&M soared 8%. Bouygues to price

[R]5:45 PM Frankfurt, Paris; 11:45 AM New York – European indexes closed lower and Nokia and H&M reported better than expected earnings. Nokia surged more than 12% and H&M soared 8%. Bouygues to price €500 million eight year bond at lower than expected rate premium.[/R]

European markets traded lower for the most of the session and better than expected Nokia and H&M reported better than expected earnings.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 71.73 or 1.37% to 5,145.74, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 71.01 or 1.89% to close at 3,688.79, in Frankfurt DAX index lower 102.87 or 1.82% to close at 5,540.33. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 30.62 or 0.47% to close at 6,442.41.

Nokia reported better than expected sales and quarterly earnings and also increased its market share in smartphone category. Hennes & Mauritz AB, the second largest apparel retailer gained more than 8% after it reported higher than expected earnings.

Gainers & Losers

Aeroports de Paris SA increased 5.1% to €57.23 after the operator of Orly and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airports in Paris was upgraded to “buy” from “add” at Natixis Securities.

Alcatel Lucent SA climbed 2.7% to €2.49 after the telecom-equipment maker was upgraded to “hold” from “sell” at Standard & Poor’s.

Bouygues SA rose 0.6% to €36.56 after the construction company is expected to price its €500 million eight-year bond at 88 basis points over mid-point of the benchmark swaps. Initial guidance was set at 90 to 95 basis points above the reference, according to a Dow Jones report.

Centrotec Sustainable AG the maker of energy-saving boilers rose 0.5% to €12.22.

Coolpast surged 11% after the company reported better than expected fiscal first quarter profit and revised its annual outlook higher.

Delachaux SA the railway-equipment maker fell 5.6% to €39.99.

EADS NV added 2.3% to €14.11 and the parent of Airbus SA and India based SpiceJet Limited in initial talks to order new planes. SpiceJet is scheduled to take delivery of five additional Boeing 737-800 planes by February 2011, with the first delivery in March this year, according to Dow Jones report.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB the fashion retailer said fourth quarter sales rose 6.5% to SEK28.0 billion from SEK26.3 billion a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 26.7% to SEK6.15 billion or SEK7.44 per diluted share compared to net profit of SEK5.09 billion or SEK6.15 per share a year ago.

Lagardere SCA rose 1.6% to €27.48 after the publisher was upgraded to “buy” from “reduce” at Kepler Capital Markets. The company also participated in the release of iPad, electronic book reader launch from Apple Inc.

Nokia Oyj surged 11% to €10.02 after fourth quarter sales increased to €12 billion and net income increased €948 million or 26 cents compared to €576 million or 15 cents.

In the quarter Nokia shipped 126.9 million handsets at an average price of €63 and the adjusted net margins in the handset division increased to 15.4%. Revenues of the smartphones increased to 3.9 billion and average selling price declined to €186 from €190 in the third quarter.

The mobile handset maker sold 8.9 million of the E series phones that compete with iPhone and Blackberry. The company has increased its market share in smartphone category to 40% from 31% according to a research note published by Sanford C Bernstein available on Bloomberg.

Saft Groupe SA increased 3.7% to €31.97 after the battery maker said fourth quarter revenues declined 8.9% to €148.7 million from €163.1 million a year ago.

SeLoger.com SA gained 4.4% to €26.00 after the real-estate Web site operator said full-year sales rose 1.9% to €73.0 million from €71.6 million a year ago.

TA Triumph-Adler AG rose 1.0% to €2.00.

Volkswagen AG the automobile maker added 0.5% to €66.62.
DAX Index Movers

RWE AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 2.57%, followed by losses in Siemens AG of 2.39%, in Deutsche Telekom AG of 2.31%, in ThyssenKrupp AG of 2.31%, and in Bayer AG of 2.29%.

Infineon Technologies AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 2.49%, followed by losses in Volkswagen AG of 1.19%, in Deutsche Bank AG of 0.85%, in Deutsche Lufthansa AG of 0.48%, and in Henkel AG of 0.23%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

ArcelorMittal led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 3.66%, followed by losses in Schneider Electric SA of 3.65%, in Bouygues SA of 3.25%, in Cap Gemini SA of 3.15%, and in Alstom SA of 3.10%.

STMicroelectronics N.V. gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 1.53% followed by gainers in Unibail-Rodamco SA of 1.27%, in Alcatel Lucent of 0.79%, in Lagardere SCA of 0.56% and in Technip of 0.46%.