European Midday Update: Markets Largely Higher but Quiet
LONDON -- The U.K.'s markets got off to a solid start Monday morning, but with the coming holiday in the U.S. and an interest-rate decision on Thursday from the Bank of England, business was at a slow ebb.
The
FTSE 100
by midmorning was 49 points higher at 6361.7 and the
Techmark
moved up 20.4 points to 3411.5.
There were contrasting fortunes for companies within the telecom sector. Recently under siege
Vodafone AirTouch
(VOD) - Get Report
fought back to stand 12p higher at 279 ($4.24), although weekend reports were full of stories about shareholder revolt over humongous compensation packages to executives so this rally could be short-lived.
British Telecom
(BTY)
was the subject of criticism from the telecom regulator and slipped as much as 11p before coming back a little to stand 2p cheaper at 852.
Although most analysts expect interest rates to be left on untouched later this week, banks faired badly this morning.
Royal Bank of Scotland
fell 16p to
10.90 and
Barclays
(BCS) - Get Report
shed 9p to
16.34. However,
Standard Chartered
rose 8.5p to 831.5 on reports that the company is in advanced negotiations with
Chase Manhattan
(CMB)
to acquire the U.S. banking group's Hong Kong retail business for about
1 billion.
Reports that supermarket chain
Tesco
is in advanced talks over a
3-billion deal to acquire
Real
, Germany's biggest hypermarket chain that belongs to
Metro
, sent Tesco's shares down 4.5p to 201. Metro, though, climbed 1.11 euros to 38.10
Europe's other major stock markets were mixed, with the
Xetra Dax
in Frankfurt up 7.8 at 6,905.7 and the
CAC 40
in Paris 13.1 lower at 6,433.4. The Neuer Markt's tech-heavy
Nemax 50
index was up 47.0 at 5,988.2.
Most blue-chip German tech shares were higher, with
Epcos
(EPC) - Get Report
up 4.51 euros at 109.00 ($103.90) and
SAP
(SAP) - Get Report
up 2.90 euros at 196.60.
However,
Siemens
(SMAWY)
was off 0.26 euros at 157.74 and its subsidiary
Infineon
(IFX)
was down 3.10 euros at 79.45, after Siemens issued a 2-billion-euro convertible bond for Infineon stock.
Volkswagen
(VLKAY)
fell 0.39 euros to 39.30, failing to get a boost from good June sales figures in the U.S.
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
was up 0.40 euros at 60.20, amid more speculation over the weekend that the former state-controlled monopoly was considering a bid for
Sprint
(FON)
.
Elsewhere,
France Telecom
(FTE)
was up 3.30 euros at 149.70 and
Telefonica
(TEF) - Get Report
was 1.00 euro higher at 22.50.
