European Indexes Up; Greek Union Strikes

Mayank Mehta
08 Feb, 2010
New York City

European indexes closed higher but investors worried that sovereign debt problem may widen. World finance leaders were mum after the weekend meeting on the growing government debts and widening budget deficits. Air France-KLM traffic down 1.6%. Areva, EDF reach agreement on nuclear fuel management.

[R]7:00 PM Frankfurt, Paris; 1:00 PM New York – European indexes closed higher but investors worried that sovereign debt problem may widen in the region. World finance leaders were mum after the weekend meeting on the growing government debts and widening budget deficits. Air France-KLM traffic down 1.6%. Areva and EDF reach agreement on used nuclear fuel management.[/R]

For the third week in a row investors focused their attention to sovereign debts of Spain, Greece and Portugal. Investors fear that spending cuts by these governments will be hard to impose and governments will struggle to lower debt.

World finance leaders of the Group of Seven nations met near the Arctic Circle and left it to European governments to solve the growing problem of sovereign debts in the region.

Widespread dissatisfaction with the government plan to impose wage freeze and lower costs was met with a stiff resistance from Greek public workers union. The largest workers union in Greece that includes public workers from schools and medical facilities has scheduled a one-day strike on Feb 10.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 31.41 or 0.62% to 5,092.33, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 43.51 or 1.22% to close at 3,607.27, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 50.51 or 0.93% to close at 5,484.85. In Zurich trading SMI increased 82.81 or 1.32% to close at 6,347.14.

Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian opposition leader claimed a victory in the presidential election. After 99% of votes counted, Yanukovych led with 48.68% and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko with 45.73% of votes. Timoshenko is yet to concede the defeat and said she is considering a court review of ballot counting process.

Gainers & Losers

Air France-KLM added 0.04% to €11.61 after the airline said Monday that bad weather and two strikes by French air traffic controllers contributed to a 1.6% drop in traffic in January.

Alten SA the contract-technology research company rose 0.6% to €19.90.

Altran Technologies SA the engineering and technology consulting company fell 1.6% to €4.15.

Areva SA advanced 1.1% to €316.05 after the reactor builder announced that they have reached an agreement covering the transportation, treatment and recycling of used nuclear fuel, for which a contract will be signed before the end of the first quarter of 2010.

Daimler AG rose 2.5% to €33.15.

EADS NV declined 0.6% to €14.02 after its plane making subsidiary Airbus SAS announced that it has signed a preliminary contract with Hong Kong Airlines for six A330-200 aircraft.

Etablissements Maurel et Prom SA the energy explorer and driller fell 1.5% to €11.91.

Infineon Technologies AG rose 2.8% to €3.98.

Publicis Groupe S.A. rose 0.5% to €28.11 after the advertising agency and Lov Group announced that they have entered into exclusive negotiations with France Télévisions to acquire a 70% stake of the media sales entity, France Télévisions Publicité.

Teleperformance SA fell 0.4% to €23.77 after the company’s shares was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” at UBS.

ThyssenKrupp AG the steelmaker rose 1.3% to €22.33.

DAX Index Movers

SAP AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 2.10%, followed by losses in Volkswagen AG of 0.81%, in BMW AG of 0.74%, in MAN SE of 0.72%, and in Adidas AG of 0.26%.

Diamler AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 3.20%, followed by losses in BASF SE of 2.48%, in Henkel AG of 2.43%, in Siemens AG of 2.16%, and in Salzgitter AG of 2.12%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

Technip led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 2.74%, followed by losses in PSA Peugeot Citroen S.A of 1.72%, in Alcatel Lucent of 1.59%, in Unibail-Rodamco SA of 1.38% and in Suez Environnement SA of 1.22%.

Dexia SA gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 4.67%, followed by gainers in Air Liquide SA of 3.11%, in ArcelorMittal of 2.55%, in Sanofi-Aventis of 2.52% and in Lafarge S.A. of 2.34%.