UK/Euro Financial Market Daily Morning Briefing 05-09-2006

Spice up your trading with a CFD account - can you take the heat? Click here*

London shares lower on Cairn woes but losses capped by talk of bid for BG

Leading shares were lower in opening deals, hit by a lack of direction from Wall Street and disappointing results from Cairn Energy but vague talk peer Royal Dutch Shell is mulling a bid for BG limited losses, dealers said.
  
At 9.05 am, the FTSE 100 was off 4.1 points at 5,982.5, recovering from an earlier low of 5971.5, with the broader indices mixed. Volume was thin with 184 mln shares changing hands in 28,538 deals.
  
Meanwhile, Wall Street returns from the long Labor Day holiday weekend having been given a boost on Friday from in-line jobs data which soothed fears over the health of the world's biggest economy, dealers said.
   
The DJIA rose 83.00 points to 11,464.15, the S&P 500 gained 7.19 to 1,311.01, and the Nasdaq added 9.41 to 2,193.16.
   
But in Asia overnight, the mood was downbeat as the Nikkei 225 index ended the morning down 61.17 at 16,296.90 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng closed for lunch 40.56 lower at 17,473.32.
   
Still in Asia, oil prices continued to drop, falling further away from the key 70 usd mark, as worries over the Iran and UN nuclear stand-off continued to ease.
   
Earlier this morning, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, was down 0.81 usd at 68.38 usd a barrel.
  
And back in London, oil heavyweights dominated market sentiment on whispers Shell could bid up to 800 pence a share for BG.
   
French group Total was also mooted as a potential suitor sending shares in BG 8-1/2 pence firmer at 692-1/2.
   
BP rose 3-1/2 at 598 in sympathy, with Shell unchanged at 1894.

Use our professional platform to trade on margin and trade tax free. Speculate on Oil, Gold, Foreign Exchange, Worldwide Indices, Equities and Options. Go long or short on all our markets. Click here.

But in contrast, Cairn fell 46 at 2070, the top faller, after the oil group announced a delay in the start-up of its main fields in Rajasthan.
   
This offset news it was "on track" to list part of its Indian operations on the Bombay Stock Exchange this December.
   
At the same time, Cairn revealed a 74 pct slump in interim pretax profits before exceptional to 12.7 mln usd, and said production was down 2 pct.
   
In response, Bridgewell Securities said management's forecast for a 2009 start-up for the main fields in Rajasthan may disappoint the market.
   
Elsewhere, miners continued to lend support boosted by buoyant metal prices with Kazakhmys up 24 at 1311, Vedanta 8 higher at 1408, BHP rose 5 at 1040 and Xstrata 9 to the good at 2471.
   
Vodafone was also courted, 1/2 better at 114-1/2 as investors warmed to news the telecoms group has appointed Vittorio Colao as deputy chief executive and as chief executive of its European with effect from Oct 9 2006.
   
Colao will succeed Julian Horn-Smith and will assist the chief executive in external representation, in particular with political institutions and regulatory bodies.
   
On the downside, broker comment helped to drag down utilities as Morgan Stanley downgraded Severn Trent to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' and Kelda Group to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'.
   
In a note on the sector, the broker said it believes regulator Ofwat will take a more punitive stance following its investigations into the utilities company, and added investors may find it more difficult to unearth value.
   
Kelda fell 8 at 835 and Severn Trent was also off 8 at 1,323.
   
Financials were also weak, hit by profit taking following strong M&A fuelled gains yesterday and amid caution ahead of Thursday's Bank of England rate decision.
   
Northern Rock was off 5-1/2 at 1133, Alliance & Leicester fell 4 at 1040, and Bradford & Bingley was down 3 at 472.
   
And British Airways was 2-3/4 lower at 411-1/2 amid caution ahead of the national carrier's August traffic figures later in the session, with investors anxious to hear how the recent terror alerts hit trade.

Trade shares for a living with Intelli-trend 250
Click Here to find out more.

On the second-line, sector consolidation hopes provided a fillip to housebuilders after The Times claimed HBOS is mulling a bid for Wilson Bowden.
   
The paper said the bank though will face competition from Persimmon and Barratt for control of the group.
   
Bovis Homes took on 20 at 879-1/2, Wilson Bowden gained 37 at 1752, and Taylor Woodrow firmed 6-1/2 at 361-3/4, while blue chip peer Persimmon took on 4 at 1279.
   
But Matalan was the top performer, 14 higher at 185 after the clothing and homewares retailer reported better-than-expected underlying sales for its first half.
   
This boosted hopes of a 200 pence a share or 820 mln stg offer for the company from founder, executive chairman and 53 pct shareholder, John Hargreaves.
   
And positive earnings news also provided a spur to Wood Group and Ashtead -- 10-1/4 to the good at 245-3/4 and 3-3/4 better at 135-3/4 respectively.
   
But Brixton PLC topped the midcap losers board, off 13 at 525-1/4 with the market reacting negatively to a fall in first half pretax profit.
   
Brixton said pretax profit fell slightly to 129.4 mln stg from 132.2 mln, while net rental income was down 11.8 pct to 44.1 mln stg from 50.0 mln. 

UK Diary of Events

For a calendar of key financial and corporate events in the UK today, click here

Save up to 50% on Jermyn Street style shirts and accessories, from silk ties to silver cufflinks, by shirt-maker Joseph Turner.
Click Here

FRANKFURT - Market data at 9.29 am

Major indices:
   
DAX 30 - 5,897.56, down 12.16 points or 0.21 pct
MDAX - 8,247.80, down 16.49 points or 0.20 pct
TecDAX - 656.54, up 1.26 points or 0.19 pct
DAX future - 5,903.50, down 9.00 points or 0.15 pct

Major gainers:
   
SAP, up 0.55 eur or 0.37 pct at 150.46
   
Hypo Real Estate, up 0.14 eur or 0.29 pct at 47.84
   
Lufthansa, up 0.04 eur or 0.26 pct at 15.56
   
Deutsche Bank, up 0.16 eur or 0.18 pct at 90.20   
   
Deutsche Post, up 0.03 eur or 0.15 pct at 20.19, as the market welcomed news the company's logistics unit DHL won a 1.6 bln stg 10-year contract to manage part of the UK National Health Service's procurement and logistics services   
   
Major losers:
   
ThyssenKrupp, down 0.25 eur or 0.91 pct at 27.10
   
Metro, down 0.37 eur or 0.80 pct at 45.65
   
Deutsche Telekom, down 0.09 eur or 0.79 pct at 11.33
   
Deutsche Boerse, down 0.87 eur or 0.72 pct at 120.40, on profit-taking, having been the best performer yesterday, closing up some 2 pct on the back of strong trading statistics for August
   
RWE, down 0.41 eur or 0.57 pct at 70.95

Blue Square offer a wide range of fixed odds financial bets including daily wagers on the closing prices of the FTSE, the Dow and other major indices. Currency, takeover situations, interest rate changes and stock lottery bets are also available. Free £10 bet for new users - for further details click here.

PARIS - Market data at 10.10 am:

Major indices:
   
CAC-40  down 12.14 at 5,191.10
SBF-80 down 9.22 at 5,836.57
SBF-120 don 7.92 at 3,753.65

Volume: 425 mln eur
7 CAC-40 stocks up
32 CAC-40 stocks down

Major gainers:
   
Rhodia up 0.04 or 2.26 pct at 1.81 as Moody's upgrades debt one notch
   
Air France-KLM up 0.20 at 21.78, oil prices down
   
Alcatel up 0.07 at 9.84 volatile ahead of Lucent merger shareholder vote
   
Sanofi-Aventis up 0.35 at 70.65

Major losers:
   
Atos Origin down 0.68 at 39.95, adding to losses
   
EDF down 0.78 at 42.66, cut to 'neutral' from 'outperform' at Credit Suisse
   
Peugeot down 0.51 at 43.36, adding to losses
  
Vinci down 1.10 at 85.10 ahead of results tonight

TheWrongPrice.com can help you make informed investment decisions, advising you when best  to buy and sell shares to maximise the return on investment.

Since its inception in 2000, TheWrongprice.com team has consistently proven their ability to identify smart investment opportunities. Our recommendations have outperformed FTSE100 by a record 78.1%. Click here for a special subscription offer. 

AMSTERDAM - Market data at 10.34 am:

Major indices
   
AEX                    471.28, down 2.30 points
AMX Midcap             591.19, down 1.02 point
Government bonds       unchanged to slightly lower

Major losers:
   
Getronics led blue chip fallers, off 1.06 pct at 5.59, while Vedior eased 0.87 pct at 14.87, Buhrmann slipped 0.82 pct at 10.90 and Hagemeyer gave up 0.74 pct at 4.0
   
Wolters Kluwer shed 0.96 pct at 19.62 after Standrad & Poor's last night lowered its outlook for the publisher to negative from stable, following news it intends to acquire US-based tax and accounting solutions provider TaxWise Corp. The ratings agency affirmed its ratings on Wolters Kluwer
   
Financials weighed on the index, with Fortis 0.91 pct lower at 30.42, Aegon losing 0.92 pct at 14.02, ABN Amro falling 0.72 pct at 22.09 and ING 0.66 pct down at 34.36
   
Laurus sank 6.28 pct at 1.94, continuing its slide after the troubled retailer on Friday admitted it risks breaching banking covenants in the fourth quarter. Cheuvreux was the latest broker to downgrade the stock, to 'sell' from 'underperform'

Major gainers:
   
The only blue chip gainers were Akzo Nobel, up 0.63 pct at 46.19, and SBM Offshore, rising 0.09 pct at 21.70
   
Second-liner Fugro was a notable outperfomer, rising 2.54 pct at 35.94 on sector news Compagnie Generale de Geophysique agreed to buy Houston-based Veritas for 3.1 bln usd 
   
Draka was up 0.27 pct at 14.90 after rising to an early high of 15.38 after the cable company reported strong first-half results

Forex

*Terms and conditions apply. Click Here.

ADVFN Services