UK/Euro Financial Market Daily Morning Briefing 01-08-2006

London shares open higher as mining, oil stocks offset weak HBOS

London shares edged higher in opening deals as strength in oil heavyweights and mining stocks offset a weak session on Wall Street and a sell-off in mortgage bank HBOS, dealers said.
   
At 9.05 am, the FTSE 100 was 7.0 points firmer at 5935.3, off an initial high of 5,942.0, with the broader indices mixed.   
   
Meanwhile, Wall Street fell to profit taking after last week's strong gains, prompted by fears over the state of the economy, interest rates, and the latest spike in oil prices.
   
Investors face the possibility of another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve after St Louis Fed President William Poole said odds were 50-50 on a rate hike at the next Fed meeting on August 8.
    
The DJIA fell 34.02 to 11,185.68, The S&P lost 1.89 to 1,276.66, and the Nasdaq dropped 2.67 to 2,091.47.
   
And today, US investors will keep a close watch on the latest data from the Institute for Supply Management which is expected to show a fall to 53.6 pct in July from 53.8 pct in June.
   
Meanwhile, in Asia the Nikkei 225 index ended 15.90 lower at 15,440.91 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 25.02 lower at 16,946.32 by midday.
   
Back in London, oil majors lent support as crude held above 74 usd a barrel following a sharp spike in prices yesterday as the conflict in the Middle East continued to weigh.
   
BP took on 5-1/2 at 650-1/2, Royal Dutch Shell added 9 at 1980, and BG gained 5 at 725. 
   
Miners too found favour as reassuring production updates from Kazakhmys, up 19 at 1270, and Lonmin, 1 to the good at 2,925, added to news commodity prices held firm on copper supply fears and the unrest in Lebanon.
   
This morning, Kazakhmys said copper cathide output rose 11 pct in the second quarter, with copper concentrate up by 13 pct.
   
And Lonmin revealed it was on track to deliver 1 mln oz from platinum concentrate -- bang in-line with consensus.

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Peers Vedanta took on 21 at 1341, BHP gained 9 at 1023, Rio Tinto was 21 higher at 2736, Anglo American rose 15 at 2250 and Antofagasta added 15 at 220.
   
Elsewhere, Hanson took on 9 at 668 as US peer Vulcan Materials traded up 10 pct in after hours trade after raising guidance.
   
On the downside, PartyGaming was the biggest casualty, off 2-1/4 at 107-1/4, after a US judge extended a temporary order banning peer BETonSPORTS from taking bets in the US.
   
And HBOS reversed initial gains to trade 7-1/2 lower at 967 as largely better-than-expected interim results from the mortgage bank prompted profit-taking.
   
The UK's fourth-biggest bank extended its 2006 share buyback programme by 250 mln stg and delivered pretax profit of 2.654 bln stg, a 17 pct increase on the same period last year, and ahead of the 2.5 bln stg flagged by the market.
   
In response, JP Morgan reiterated its 'underweight' advice and said overall the results look fine, with a small beat from non-sustainable.
   
However, the broker added its underlying concerns of higher provisioning have not been abated.
   
Other banking issues fell in sympathy, with Lloyds TSB down 3-1/2 at 535-1/2, HSBC off 5-1/2 at 965-1/2, Alliance & Leicester eased 3 at 1044 and Standard Chartered was  8 lower at 1347.
   
Fading bid hopes, meanwhile, knocked the utility sector, after the Telegraph reported Severn Trent denied it has received any offers following reports a US-based private equity group was considering a bid.
   
A report over the weekend had claimed that the US-based private equity groups, KKR and Apollo, were mulling a 5 bln stg approach for the company. Severn Trent fell 9 at 1289.
   
And broker comment knocked Corus, 4-1/2 lower at 424-3/4 after the steel giant was downgraded to 'neutral' from 'buy' by Goldman Sachs on valuation.
   
On the second-line, Travis Perkins benefited from better-than-expected interim results, prompting Brdigewell to reiterate its 'buy' advice.

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Pretax profit for the first half was 10.4 mln stg, up 0.4 pct from a year earlier against analyst expectations of 95 mln stg.
   
And William Hill took on 14-1/2 at 605 after the bookmaker reported first-half earnings ahead of market forecasts and said it remains comfortable with full year expectations, dealers said.
    
In response, Citigroup upgraded its rating to 'buy' from 'hold' saying the figures show a return to form after several periods of poor sports results.
   
Likewise, George Wimpey rose 9-1/2 at 489-1/2 after the housebuilder topped forecasts with a pretax profit of 152.3 mln stg for the half-year, up from 122.3 mln the prior year and ahead of the 143 mln being forecast by analysts.
   
Still in the sector, M&A fever lifted McCarthy & Stone when one of its suitors, Mother Bidco, which includes the Bank of Scotland, the Reuben brothers and Sir Tom Hunter, upped its offer to 1,075 pence a share, valuing the group at 1.1 bln stg.
   
The new offer has topped a rival bid from Mars Bidco, a consortium led by Barclays Capital and Permira of 1,030 pence.
   
On the downside, Jardine Lloyd Thompson fell 9 at 360-1/2 on the back of uninspiring interim results from the insurer.
   
In response, Panmure Gordon reiterated its 'hold' advice and said the results "delivered shareholders an unchanged interim dividend of 8.5p, but very little else encouraging".

UK Diary of Events

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US Summary

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PARIS - Market data at 9.44 am:

Major indices:
   
CAC-40 up 2.40 points or 0.05 pct at 5,011.82
SBF-80 up 2.25 points or 0.04 pct at 5,546.48
SBF-120 up 2.03 points or 0.06 pct at 3,618.14

Volume: 309 mln eur
21 CAC-40 stocks up
15 CAC-40 stocks down
3 CAC-40 stock unchanged
(Index has 39 stocks pending replacement for Arcelor)

Major gainers:
   
Maurel et Prom, up 0.89 eur or 5.63 pct at 16.70, after an Italian newspaper reported that Eni SpA is mulling the possibility of acquiring it.
   
Electricite de France, up 0.27 eur or 0.67 pct at 40.60, ahead of second quarter sales figures due out late this week.
   
LVMH, up 0.50 eur or 0.64 pct at 79.15
   
Major losers:
   
Suez, down 0.49 eur or 1.51 pct at 31.97, after first half sales growth exceeded company targets but fell short of analysts' expectations.
   
Bouygues, down 0.32 eur or 0.82 pct at 38.77
   
STMicroelectronics, down 0.11 eur or 0.94 pct at 11.56

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AMSTERDAM - market data at 10.17 am
   
Major indices
   
AEX               454.54, up 048 points
AMX Midcap        583.15, down 0.97
Government bonds  mixed

Major gainers
  
KPN rose 4.84 pct to 9.32 eur after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and raising its full-year operating profit outlook. Brokerage Petercam raised its recommendation to 'add' from 'sell' after the results
   
Nutreco put on 2.20 pct to 49.75 eur after announcing a super dividend and generally well-received half-year earnings
   
ASMI added 2.05 pct to 12.42 eur after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at ING
   
Unilever added 1.61 pct to 18.91 eur
   
Buhrmann put on 0.65 pct to 10.87 eur ahead of tomorrow's Q2 earnings
   
Wolters Kluwer rose 1.08 pct to 18.46 eur after announcing the takeover of a US software company for an undisclosed sum and ahead of results tomorrow
   
Arcadis gained 0.93 pct to 36.73 eur after buying the UK's Berkeley Consulting
   
Akzo Nobel edged up 0.21 pct to 4365 eur after buying a US company for an undisclosed sum
   
Fugro firmed 0.15 pc to 33.64 eur after an acquisition in Canada

Major losers
   
Philips lost 0.89 pct to 25.62 eur
   
TNT shed 1.36 pct to 27.60 eur
   
ABN Amro lost 3.09 pct to 21 eur after recommendation cuts at several brokerages after yesterday's second-quarter earnings

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