ADVFN III Evening Euro Markets Bulletin -Tuesday, 25 September 2012-.

	ADVFN III	Evening Euro Markets Bulletin
	Daily world financial news

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

London Market Report

FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts

London close: Equities cruise higher Market Movers techMARK 2,142.56 +0.27% FTSE 100 5,863.14 +0.42% FTSE 250 11,930.25 +0.23% US consumer confidence data lit a small fire under equities in the afternoon session, after a drab morning in which leading shares moved mostly sideways. The Conference Board's measure of US consumer confidence rose more than expected in September to its highest level in seven months. M&A activity: real and imagined Rumours that Singapore investment fund Temasek has sounded out potential buyers for its £6bn stake in Standard Chartered sapped support for the emerging markets focused bank. Analysts at Credit Suisse were not alone in noting that this story had done the rounds before, though they also observed that the recycled nature of the reports does not prevent them from being true. According to Credit Suisse, Temasek has been trying to shift away from financials towards commodities and other sectors, while at Standard Chartered's annual general meeting this year they did not support the elections of all the executive directors; given the prominence of the stake for Temasek this could be interpreted as a negative indicator of their expectations for the group. Engineering group Weir was also the subject of some mergers & acquisitions (M&A) speculation, with Oriel Securities putting US industrial holdings company General Electric in the frame as a possible buyer. Diageo was wanted after it confirmed it is in talks about taking a stake in Indian rival United Spirits. Carnival on an even keel Carnival was buoyant after an admittedly mixed trading update. The cruise operator, still trying to recover from the reputational damage caused by the sinking of the Costa Concordia sinking in January, posted a year-on-year decline in net revenue yields for the third quarter to the end of August despite continuing strength in fleet-wide booking volumes and pricing trends since June. The firm has had to cut prices to get people back on board with the idea of cruise holidays. Third quarter income before taxes was flat year-on-year at $1,336m but ahead of expectations. Cash-strapped travel group Thomas Cook Group has agreed to sell and lease back an office property in Belgium to Koramic Real Estate. Under the terms of the agreement, Thomas Cook will receive a cash consideration of €12.3m with an additional €2.0m retained by Koramic as a pre-payment of rent. Miners had another bad day, although scandal-hit Bumi was an exception. The FTSE 250 miner said its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) had resigned from his current role as non-executive director following the launch of a probe into 'irregularities' at its Indonesian business. The firm said Ari Hudaya, who was CEO until March and is also president director of PT Bumi Resources, the focus of the investigation, had resigned from the board with immediate effect. The "urgent" probe into PT Bumi Resources, in which the company has a 29% interest, is focusing on the firm's development funds Elsewhere in the sector, Xstrata announced production had begun ahead of schedule at its Lady Loretta zinc mine in north-west Queensland, Australia. The mine was originally supposed to start production at the end of 2013, but first deliveries of zinc-lead-silver ore to the company's Mount Isa processing plant are now set to begin later this month. Commodities trader Glencore International scrapped its previous plans to increase its stake in Kazzinc, the Kazakhstan zinc producer, and came up with a new one which will see the cash component of the transaction lowered. Verny Capital has agreed to sell Glencore an 18.91% stake in Kazzinc, which will increase Glencore's holding to 69.81%. At its flotation last year Glencore said it was targeting an increase in its stake to 93% for £1.975bn in cash plus shares. The new terms imply paying less cash in exchange for the increased stake. The company will now pay up to £863m – in shares and cash - to raise its stake. Other markets As equity markets advanced in the afternoon session, so gilts saw the morning's gains disappear. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt was more or less unchanged ont he day at 1.82%. On the futures market, the price of Brent crude was back on the rise. The main contract was up 115 cents at $110.96 a barrel. The price of gold was up $9.80 to $1,774.40 an ounce. FTSE 100 - Risers Weir Group (WEIR) 1,813.00p +4.14% Carnival (CCL) 2,343.00p +3.40% Hammerson (HMSO) 459.00p +2.18% ARM Holdings (ARM) 585.00p +2.18% Diageo (DGE) 1,757.00p +1.91% British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 752.00p +1.83% Old Mutual (OML) 176.20p +1.79% Land Securities Group (LAND) 777.50p +1.77% Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,319.00p +1.62% Tesco (TSCO) 343.10p +1.61% FTSE 100 - Fallers Evraz (EVR) 250.20p -4.32% Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 323.50p -2.15% Glencore International (GLEN) 346.80p -2.08% Xstrata (XTA) 980.00p -1.98% Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,714.00p -1.81% BAE Systems (BA.) 329.00p -1.67% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,456.00p -1.65% CRH (CRH) 1,213.00p -1.38% Polymetal International (POLY) 1,066.00p -1.20% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,017.00p -1.17% FTSE 250 - Risers Bumi (BUMI) 168.10p +13.89% Inmarsat (ISAT) 603.00p +3.34% Unite Group (UTG) 253.60p +3.09% Salamander Energy (SMDR) 202.80p +2.37% Renishaw (RSW) 1,634.00p +2.06% PayPoint (PAY) 750.00p +2.04% Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 304.10p +2.01% William Hill (WMH) 321.10p +2.00% UBM (UBM) 716.50p +1.99% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 1,481.00p +1.93% FTSE 250 - Fallers Kenmare Resources (KMR) 40.06p -6.84% IP Group (IPO) 125.60p -2.56% Pace (PIC) 164.00p -2.56% SIG (SHI) 102.10p -2.48% Soco International (SIA) 340.80p -2.38% Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 37.03p -2.30% Essar Energy (ESSR) 117.30p -2.25% Homeserve (HSV) 219.80p -2.09% Spirent Communications (SPT) 157.80p -1.74% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 452.50p -1.61% FTSE TechMARK - Risers Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.61p +6.10% Filtronic (FTC) 44.00p +6.02% Optos (OPTS) 190.50p +4.96% Gresham Computing (GHT) 73.50p +2.08% Ricardo (RCDO) 385.00p +1.78% Innovation Group (TIG) 20.25p +1.25% Psion (PON) 86.75p +0.87% Vectura Group (VEC) 83.50p +0.60% RM (RM.) 80.73p +0.29% Corin Group (CRG) 56.00p 0.00% FTSE TechMARK - Fallers Antisoma (ASM) 1.53p -9.47% Skyepharma (SKP) 93.00p -4.86% Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 48.00p -2.04% XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 992.50p -1.44% BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 17.25p -1.43% Vislink (VLK) 30.12p -1.23% Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 206.00p -1.08% Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 148.00p -1.00% CML Microsystems (CML) 311.50p -0.64% NCC Group (NCC) 914.00p -0.57%  Europe Market Report FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Europe close: Good US news overshadows Spanish woe Market movers FTSE 100: +0.36% Dax 30: +0.16% Stoxx 600: +0.40% Cac 40: +0.47% Ibex 35: +0.45% FTSE MIB: +0.41% Most major European markets closed higher on Tuesday as encouraging data from the US outweighed disappointing debt auctions by Spain and Italy. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 US cities increased 1.2% in July compared to the same month last year; that's the biggest rise in nearly two years and beat expectations of a 1% rise. Consumer confidence also appears to be on the rise Stateside as the Conference Board's index rose to 70.3 in September from a reading of 61.3 in August. Less pleasing was news of short - term debt auctions by Spain and Italy in which interest rates rose and the bid-to-cover ratio fell. Everyone is waiting for a formal request for aid by the Spanish government to the European Central Bank. The debt-strapped country's Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said today the administration needed to know the amount of Spanish debt the European Central Bank was prepared to buy before requesting intervention in the secondary debt market. To many this sounded like a bargaining tactic, with Spain's politicians anxious over the extent of budget cuts they would be required to make in exchange for debt purchases. COMPANIES On the Stoxx Europe 600 the strongest sector was media, rising 1.3%. The weakest was automobiles and parts which declined 1.34%. Swiss chemicals Lonza firm rose 3% after several British newspapers reported the company could be a takeover target for German chemicals goliath BASF. German outfit Sudzucker, the biggest producer of sugar in the world, rose 3.4% after increasing its profits forecast. German tyre maker Continental made a recovery in afternoon trading having fallen by as much as 4% after one of its shareholders was forced to sell over 10% of the stock to pay down debts.  US Market Report US open: Stocks move forward The major US equity benchmarks are now registering slight gains. That ahead of the result of today´s meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Drgahi. Shares of Facebook are bouncing back by 1% after yesterday´s pounding, which saw them drop by another 9%. Much more significantly, earth moving equipment maker Caterpillar has just lowered its earnings-per-share guidance for this year. Walgreens and Staples are gaining on the back of positive coverage from analysts at Goldman Sachs. More data ahead The Conference Board´s consumer confidence index for the month of September will be released at 3PM. The S&P-Case Shiller price index for the 20 largest metropolitan areas increased at a 1.6% pace in July. Other asset classes also gaining Front month West Texas crude futures are now rising by 0.82% to the $92.68 mark in NYMEX trading. 10 year US Treasuries are now rising by 1/32 dollars, with yields at 1.71%. S&P 500 - Risers Safeway Inc. (SWY) $16.57 +3.92% Carnival Corp. (CCL) $38.33 +3.58% First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $21.55 +2.61% CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $59.83 +2.15% Teradyne Inc. (TER) $14.65 +1.67% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $40.69 +1.66% Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL) $21.72 +1.61% Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $5.73 +1.60% Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) $56.14 +1.59% Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.51 +1.48% S&P 500 - Fallers Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $46.64 -3.38% Staples Inc. (SPLS) $11.99 -2.91% Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $33.38 -2.91% Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) $63.08 -2.31% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $88.93 -2.13% Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) $49.00 -2.06% Red Hat Inc. (RHT) $56.42 -1.94% GameStop Corp. (GME) $21.73 -1.81% Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $14.81 -1.79% PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $16.50 -1.55% Dow Jones I.A - Risers Home Depot Inc. (HD) $59.92 +0.89% Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.18 +0.88% International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $206.68 +0.68% Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $68.88 +0.67% Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $24.91 +0.64% American Express Co. (AXP) $57.95 +0.49% Boeing Co. (BA) $70.37 +0.49% Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.10 +0.44% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $45.33 +0.43% Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $53.12 +0.38% Dow Jones I.A - Fallers Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $88.93 -2.13% United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $79.49 -0.67% Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $38.08 -0.09% Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.20 -0.06% Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) $41.63 -0.00% Nasdaq 100 - Risers CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $59.83 +2.15% Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.51 +1.48% Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $114.55 +1.44% Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $115.60 +1.34% Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $6.39 +1.27% Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $638.99 +1.24% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $6.33 +1.18% F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $110.30 +1.16% Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $67.93 +1.15% DIRECTV (DTV) $53.30 +1.14% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Staples Inc. (SPLS) $11.99 -2.91% Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $33.38 -2.91% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $57.74 -1.67% Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $58.21 -1.10% Mattel Inc. (MAT) $35.49 -0.82% Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $13.21 -0.75% Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $34.41 -0.55% PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $41.22 -0.48% Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $12.01 -0.46% Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) $41.90 -0.45% Broker Tips Broker snap: Credit Suisse dismissive of StanChart report? Or not? STAN - Standard Chartered