LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares were lower Friday, pressured by a
string of broker downgrades and falling energy stocks as crude oil prices
weakened and after Wall Street closed sharply lower.
Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.7% at 5,502, the French CAC 40 index dropped 0.8%
at 4,851 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 0.5% at 5,708.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 dipped 0.5% at 317.00
U.S. stocks posted their first significant decline of the year so far on
Thursday, amid tension about the resumption of Iran's nuclear research
program. The Dow industrials closed down 81 points, or 0.7%, at 10,962.36. See
Market Snapshot.
Light sweet crude prices dipped 19 cents at $63.75 a barrel, after
February crude-oil futures briefly hit $65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. See full story.
Oil giant BP fell 0.9% and Royal Dutch Shell dipped 0.8%.
Elsewhere broker sentiment pushed some major European stocks lower.
Siemens AG fell 1.4% after a Lehman Brothers downgrade. And Merrill Lynch
downgrades hit Shire Pharmaceuticals, down 2.8% and Allianz, which fell 2.3%.
France Telecom continued Thursday's declines after warning 2006 profit
would fall below its previous forecast after UBS cut its rating on the company
to neutral from buy. France Telecom shares were recently down 1.7%.
Dexia shares eased 0.4% after it agreed to sell its U.K. private banking
business to Rathbone Brothers for a maximum of 14 million pounds.
Rathbone said the deal, which should be completed by the end of April, is
expected to increase earnings in 2007.
The British pensions and investments firm also said Friday that total
funds under management increased by 23.4% in 2005 to 9.5 billion pounds ($16.8
billion).
Also in the U.K., Northern Foods slumped 8.3% after warning it expects
fiscal year profit to fall.
This MarketWatch news update is provided to you courtesy of Thomson
Financial. The information herein is believed to be true and accurate. We take
no responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve the right to update
our reports. If you have any questions please e-mail Olivier Masson at
olivier.masson@thomson.com or call +44 (20) 7369 7814. For more information
about Thomson Financial visit us at http://www.thomson.com/financial.
Copyright (C) 2006 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved.
Please note the following Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
back to top
