European Midday Update: Higher but Quiet on U.S. Election Confusion
LONDON -- The Land of the Free looks more like the Land of Uncertainty and the decision to have a recount in Florida has taken the shine off European equities.
After posting a swift 48-point gain in early trading, the
FTSE 100
by midday was up just 9 points at 6476 and the
Techmark 100
was up just 5 points at 3467. On the Continent, the
CAC-40
in Paris was up 13 points at 6399 and the
Xetra Dax
in Frankfurt was up 36 points at 7112.
"There's no interest whatsoever," says one trader. "Volume is low and everyone is sitting on their hands." A salesman at a U.K. bank in London adds: "Everyone is using it as a wonderful excuse to do nothing."
In the telecom sector,
British Telecom
(BTY)
rose 17.5p to 786 ($11.40) ahead of its earnings results Thursday and reports that it will reveal its long-awaited strategic plan. But
Vodafone
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fell 6p to 252 after announcing that it has bought a 25% stake in
Swisscom's
mobile subsidiary Mobil Com.
In the tech sector,
Baltimore Technologies
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rose 10p to 525 after reporting better-than-expected results. The company announced third-quarter revenue of
20.1 million and a loss, before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or LBITDA, of
7 million.
UBS Warburg
predicted revenues of
19m and a loss of
10.1 million.
Optical components developer
Bookham Technology
(BKHM)
also rose after results that were better than expected. Bookham reported widening losses for its third-quarter, up 52% to
6.4 million on last year. But revenues increased to
7.7 million, an elevenfold rise on
684,000 for last year. Shares were up 28p at
23.11.
However, Deutsche Telekom's Internet subsidiary
T-Online
fell 1.20 euros to 22.05 after reporting a nine-month LBITDA of 53.5 million euros ($46 million), which just goes to show how differently investors treat losses at technology and Internet firms.
The likelihood of a victory by
George W. Bush
also helped drug and tobacco stocks, as investors reckon he will be kinder on both industries.
Glaxo Wellcome
(GLX)
was up 43p at
20.64, while
Bayer
was up 0.15 euro at 52.10.
British American Tobacco
was up 18.25p at 498.25.
