UK/Euro Financial Market Daily Morning Briefing 29-06-2006

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London shares open higher after Wall St gains; all eyes on FOMC meeting
       
UK blue chips opened in positive territory after Wall Street recouped some of the previous session's losses overnight and with investors eyeing the Fed's interest rate decision due after the close, dealers said.
   
At 8.53 am, the FTSE 100 was 35.1 points firmer at 5,713.9, extending Wednesday's gains when it closed 26.3 points higher at 5,678.6.
   
The broader indices were also higher, with the FTSE 250 index up 50.6 points at 9,248.2.
   
Overnight on Wall street, US blue chips recouped some of the steep losses of the prior session as traders readied themselves for the Federal Reserve's impending decision on interest rates.
   
Although a quarter-point rate hike has been widely priced in, there is some speculation about a half-point increase and investors are also looking for hints about future rate hikes from the statement accompanying the Fed's rate verdict.
   
The DJIA closed up 48.90 points at 10,973.60, while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended 11.59 points higher at 2,111.84 and the S&P 500 index finished the day 6.80 points firmer at 1,246.00.
   
Meanwhile, in Asian trade this morning, the Nikkei 225 index closed up 235.04 points at 15,121.15, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was also higher -- up 146.10 points at 15,888.7 by midday.
   
Asian indices benefited from Wall Street's gains, despite weaker-than-expected industrial production data from Japan.
   
In London today, miners provided much of the upward force on the back of a renewed rise in commodity prices, with gold up over 3 usd at 584.3 per ounce.
   
Xstrata added 31 at 1,909, while Antofagasta climbed 10 at 405 and BHP Billiton rose 13 at 996.
   
And oil stocks were also in play as crude futures continued to climb, up 34 cents at 72.53 per barrel, on concern about supply after the latest US stockpile figures, especially for gasoline, turned out to be much weaker than expected.
   
This fuelled gains in Royal Dutch Shell, up 15 at 1,856, BP, 4-1/2 higher at 623, and Cairn Energy, 23 stronger at 2,160.

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Elsewhere, Brambles Industries stood out as a top performer, up 7-1/4 at 418-1/4, after the Australian-based group said it is on track to complete its restructuring programme, including the unification of its dual-listed companies, at the end of November.
   
Meanwhile, in a trading update, it said its CHEP business is performing well in all regions.
   
In particular, Brambles said CHEP Americas has continued a very strong performance achieved in the first half of 2006.
   
And Standard Chartered continued to ride on the back of yesterday's trading update, gaining 26 at 1,305 after saying Wednesday that it has seen double-digit income growth in H1, which it expects to outweigh a worse-than-expected increase in consumer bad debts in Taiwan.
   
On the downside, however, Diageo was one of only a handful of blue chips in the red after it issued a strong trading statement that had been widely anticipated.
   
The international drinks company had been expected to report a strong US trading performance and this morning maintained its guidance for 7 pct growth in organic operating profits for the year to June 30, 2006.
   
Reacting to the news, Credit Suisse said the update proved the group is on course and gaining momentum.
   
"With the company guiding to another year of strong organic revenue and profit growth in 2007, we believe that the quality of earnings in the group looks greatly enhanced," the broker said.
   
The group, which returned 1.4 bln stg to shareholders during the year, said it plans to return another 1.4 bln stg in the new financial year.
   
Diageo shares dipped 17 pence at 893-1/2.
   
Chemicals group ICI also fell back, down 2 at 893-1/2 as investors took profits following yesterday's rise when Deutsche Bank said it preferred the UK shares to those of its Swiss competitor, Givaudan, and with ING this morning reiterating its 'hold' recommendation on the stock.
   
On the second line, RHM led the risers, jumping over 5 pct or 13-1/2 pence at 278.

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The maker of Hovis bread, Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy reported improved full year results, boosted by significant improvement in the second half with good growth in Hovis and Bistro sales, and announced a maiden final dividend of 10.6 pence.
   
In reaction, Credit Suisse said this was a solid set of full-year results and reiterated its 'outperform' rating on RHM.
   
Intertek Group also featured on the upside after the quality and safety audit services group said it has performed well in the first half, achieving strong revenue growth despite the termination of two government contracts.
   
The group also added that it expects this trend to continue in the remainder of the year.
   
Intertek shares were 22-1/2 firmer at 697-1/2.
   
On the negative side, Trinity Mirror slipped almost 2 pct, down 9 pence at 476-1/2, after a lacklustre trading update.
   
The newspaper group warned today that the advertising market is set to remain weak for rest of 2006 as it unveiled another sharp fall in advertising revenues.    
   
Responding to the news, Bridgewell Securities said that, looking at regional performance, the pattern was similar to that already reported by Johnston Press, with no obvious benefit from easier comparisons in the second quarter.
   
And DS Smith dropped a penny at 146-1/4 after saying pretax profits fell sharply to 53.4 mln stg in the year to April 30 from 73.9 mln a year earlier due to a 23 mln stg hike in its energy costs and stronger competition in the UK office products market.
   
Looking ahead, the company predicted energy costs for 2006-07 will exceed the 10 mln stg forecast.
   
Elsewhere, on the economic front today, the FOMC meeting apart, all eyes will be on the revised GDP figure for the US in Q1. Market consensus is for a slight upward revision to growth to 5.5 pct from the 5.3 pct number already reported.

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PARIS - Market data at 10.19 am:

Major indices:
   
CAC-40 up 40.54 points at 4,814.54
SBF-80 up 30.98 at 5,525.15
SBF-120 up 28.42 at 3,492.15

Volume: 524 mln eur
36 CAC-40 stocks up
3 CAC-40 stocks down
Arcelor has been removed from index pending results of Mittal Steel takeover offer.

Major gainers:
   
TF1, up 0.37 eur or 1.5 pct at 15.15 and building on yesterday's sharp rise, seen after the French team won an expected victory against Spain in the World Football Cup. The team's advance will allow the broadcaster to command high advertising rates for the next France match on Saturday.
   
L'Oreal, up 0.65 at 71.50 after the cosmetics group said it would buy back 1.25 bln eur of its own shares between now and June 2007, the same amount bought back over the previous 12 months.

Major losers:
   
Nexans, down 1.70 or 6.4 pct at 54.30 after launching a 212 mln eur bond offer, which can be converted into or exchanged for shares.
   
Rodriguez Group, down 1.94 or 4.4 pct at 42.45 after the luxury yachtmaker posted a 2 pct rise in net profit to 10 mln eur for its first half to March 31.
   
Arcelor, down 0.44 at 36.75 after a Severstal spokesman said the company has not said it would raise the price of its merger offer for the steelmaker, denying reported comments by Severstal chairman Alexey Mordashov yesterday.

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AMSTERDAM - market data at 10.12 am
   
Major indices
  
AEX                 427.81, up 4.0 points
AMX Midcap          571.59, up 3.62 points
Government bonds    mixed
   
Major gainers
   
Draka soared 3.56 pct to 14.24 eur after coming out with a very well received trading update. The company also announced restructuring measures and an acquisition.

Petercam was an exception amid the general enthusiasm, downgrading the stock to 'reduce' from 'add', saying the improved market conditions were not enough to keep its positive rating.
   
Pharming strengthened 3.77 pct to 3.30 after the biotech group received a patent for its chief product, recombinant human C1 inhibitor (rhC1INH), for hereditary angioedema from the US Patent and Trademark Office.
   
Vopak went up 2.22 pct to 27.13.
   
Aegon advanced 1.79 pct to 13.06 after Theodoor Gillissen increased its recommendation to 'buy' from 'hold'.
   
Royal Dutch Shell added 1.17 pct at 25.91 after the oil company said it has formed a joint venture to develop hydrogen-fuelled public transport services in the Netherlands with Connexxion Holding NV and MAN Truck & Bus Co NV.
   
DSM was up 1.20 pct to 31.99 after the company said it was investing 15 mln eur in order to up acrylonitrile capacity by 10 pct at its Geleen plant in The Netherlands.

Delta Lloyd noted the move was part of the company's Vision 2010 strategy and reiterated its 'buy' rating and 38.0 eur price target. ING earlier raised its price target on the issue to 47 eur from 38.5.
   
Buhrmann put on 0.92 pct to 10.96 after the company named Jay Mutschler as chief operating officer of its Corporate Express North America division.
   
KPN went 0.70 pct higher to 8.65 after the telecom said it was taking the Dutch State to court for unfair treatment. Delta Lloyd said the move was a "sensible thing to do" although the outcome remains "uncertain".

Major losers
   
Heineken shed 0.94 pct to 32.53.
   
Ordina slid 0.50 pct to 17.97 and Getronics lost 0.36 pct to 8.31.

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FRANKFURT - Market data at 9.47 am
   
Major indices:
   
DAX 30 - 5,487.66, up 30.79 points or 0.56 pct
MDAX - 7,602.53, up 50.49 points or 0.67 pct
TecDAX - 625.05, up 7.51 points or 1.22 pct
DAX future - 5,522.50, down 4.50 points or 0.08 pct

Major gainers:
   
MAN, up 1.40 eur or 2.65 pct at 54.29, bouncing back from sharp losses yesterday, having been the worst performer on the DAX
   
Fresenius Medical Care, up 1.77 eur or 2.07 pct at 87.39
   
Adidas, up 0.68 eur or 1.90 pct at 36.55, recovering from recent losses on the back of weak results from US rival Nike
   
ThyssenKrupp, up 0.43 eur or 1.71 pct at 25.61
   
Metro, up 0.62 eur or 1.46 pct at 42.99, following yesterday's sharp rise in the GfK market research institute's consumer climate index for July

Major losers:
   
Hypo Real Estate, down 0.34 eur or 0.74 pct at 45.79
   
Lufthansa, down 0.04 eur or 0.28 pct at 14.16
   
Munich Re, down 0.03 eur or 0.03 pct at 103.79

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