
European Markets Edge Up; Nokia Rises on Sales Upgrade, Samsung Pact
European stocks posted tentative gains on Wednesday amid disappointing news on eurozone industrial output and a flow of generally positive updates from large-cap or high-profile companies.
The FTSE 100 was by mid-morning up 0.26% at 6,697.94. In Frankfurt the Dax was up only marginally at 9,964.77 and in Paris the Cac 40 was up 0.37% at 4,347.52.
S&P 500 mini futures were recently up 0.08%.
Eurozone output fell 1.2% in May, much more than the 0.8% decline predicted, with the annual growth rate of 0.5% comparing with expectations for 1.3% growth.
Burberry (BURBY) was up well over 5% in London after announcing that first-quarter same-store sales fell 3%, less than the 5% expected.
Nokia (NOK) - Get Report rose almost 5% in Helsinki after the telecom equipment maker lifted its sales forecast and announced a patent licensing joint venture with Samsung.
Accor rose more than 4% in Paris on the hotelier's plans to turn its HotelInvest property business into a subsidiary.
Alstom gained almost 3% after reporting a 55% quarterly orders slump that the company said was a blip, and 9% quarterly sales growth, in line with estimates.
But Barratt Developments (BTDPY) was down close to 4% in London as investors took profit after a recent recovery in house builders' shares. The company said pretax profit rose about 20% in the year ended June and that after the June 23 Brexit vote the "immediate outlook for our industry is less clear and it is too early to draw any conclusions regarding market conditions from the short trading period since the referendum." Other house builders fell on the FTSE 100, including Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey (TWODY) .
Poundland Group was up 12.5% in London at 220.75 pence after it agreed to a bid from South Africa's Steinhoff International worth 222 pence, including a 2 pence dividend.
In Milan both Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Banca Carige surged after Italy's finance minister reassured markets about the Italian banking sector. Monte dei Paschi was recently up 12% and Carige 10%.
Brent crude was recently down 1.51$ at $47.74 a barrel.
Asian stock benchmarks posted modest gains on Wednesday, with downward revisions to Japanese output figures bolstering the case for near-term monetary stimuli and mitigating against a higher yen. China trade date released late in the day showed a steep decline in imports in June.
The Nikkei 225 was up 0.84% at 16,231.43 and the Topix rose 1.13% to 1,300.26.
On mainland China the CSI 300 composite index rose 0.30% to 3,282.87.









