Thursday 5 January, 5:00 PM GMT (Thomson Financial): European markets
ended the trading session lower on some profit taking. The technology
sector bucked the trend as chip stocks benefited from news that U.S. peer
Xilinx had raised its guidance for the second time in a month. Meanwhile
HBOS said its chief executive James Crosby would be succeeded by Andy
Hornby in July while ABB secured a US$95 million contract with India's Oil
& Natural Gas Corporation. Finally, in the healthcare sector, shares in
Qiagen were in focus in the wake of a strategic alliance and licensing
agreement, while Nobel Biocare refuted allegations concerning its dental
implant product NobelDirect.
London's FTSE-100 Index fell by 23.40 points or 0.41% to 5691.20, while
Paris's CAC-40 Index slipped by 3.43 points or 0.07% to 4835.09.
Frankfurt's DAX Index weakened by 7.09 points or 0.13% to 5516.53 and Milan's
S&P MIB Index declined by 251 points or 0.69% to 36,085. The pan-European blue
chip Dow Jones Stoxx 50 Index dropped by 8.15 points or 0.24% to 3407.03.
* European chip stocks were supported by news that U.S. rival Xilinx had
raised its guidance for the second time in a month, thanks to broad-based
strength in North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company expects
its third-quarter revenue to be 11-12% higher than in the prior quarter
ending in October versus a prior guidance of 4-8%.
* HBOS says Chief Executive James Crosby will be succeeded by Andy Hornby,
the group's chief operating officer with effect from, July 31. Meanwhile,
Benny Higgins, head of retail banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, will join
the board as soon as possible to lead the HBOS retail businesses.
* Power and automation technology group ABB secured a US$95 million
contract for an enterprise wide Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) system from India's largest integrated oil and gas company, Oil &
Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
* Life sciences group Qiagen formed a strategic alliance with Eppendorf
that includes co-development and co-marketing of complementary and
optimized products. Meanwhile Qiagen and Applied Biosystems entered into a
license agreement, under the terms of which Applied Biosystems granted a
license to Qiagen under their expanded Applied Biosystems PCR (polymerase
chain reaction) licensing program.
* Nobel Biocare said data used in serious allegations concerning its
dental implant product NobelDirect contained no scientifically or
statistically relevant evidence supporting the allegations. It said that
documents and data received from Goteborg University only covered 27
patients instead of the much larger number initially referred to.
* France Telecom decided not to increase its initial bid for Belgian
communications network company Telindus and withdrew its offer. The French
telecom operator said the strategic and financial criteria for the
acquisition of the Belgian company were no longer met.
* DaimlerChrysler said that by the end of 2005, approximately 5,000
Mercedes employees had signed retirement contracts or had already left the
company, meaning that around 60% of its twelve-month target had been
achieved just three months after starting its voluntary program. The
program of voluntary personnel reductions has the goal of reducing the
workforce of the Mercedes Car Group in Germany by 8,500 jobs by the end of
September 2006.
Simon.Tse@Thomson.com; Thomson Financial
This is Thomson Financial Corporate Services Europe Market Commentary.
The information herein is believed to be true and accurate. If you have
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SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
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