Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Europe close: Bourses mixed on global economic fears

LONDON (SHARECAST) - European markets finished mixed on Tuesday after a topsy-turvy day, but bourses recovered from their daily lows after a better start on Wall Street. However, early on, the mood was dampened by uncertainties concerning France’s credit rating and some worrying data from China.

The Cac in Paris finished 25 points down at 3.141. the Ibex in Madrid was 53 under at 8,811, while the Dax rose 18 to 5,877 in Germany.

FRENCH FEARS & CHINESE SLOWDOWN SHAKE MARKETS

Moody's said that the French government's debt metrics are now judged to be amongst the weakest of Franceґs Aaa peers. The agency raises the possibility that the French government may be called on to provide support to other sovereigns or to its own banking system, “which could give rise to significant new (contingent) liabilities for the government's balance sheet.” Both of the above factors are considered to be exerting pressure on the stable outlook for the governmentґs debt rating.

China reported that gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 9.1% in the third quarter, and while most countries would be ecstatic with such strong growth, the rate of increase had slowed down from the 9.5% rise seen the quarter before.

Furthermore, comments from the German finance minister spooked investors in Europe today. Wolfgang Schaeuble said last night that European officials will not have the “definitive solution” to the Eurozone crisis markets were hoping for when they meet this weekend at the summit in Brussels.

“Both last night's announcement in Germany and today's Chinese figures have given the market reason to take profits, after unbridled optimism took hold of traders since the beginning of October,” said analyst Ben Taylor from spread-betting firm CMC Markets in London. “It now seems we will not get a resolution on a debt rescue plan by 23 October (as the market had expected) and China resilience to external issues is showing signs of weakness,” he said.


FRENCH BANKS DRAG IN PARIS, AUTOS DRIVE GAINS IN FRANKFURT

French banks did not react well to the Moody’s news, with BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Natixis and Credit Agricole among the four worst performing blue chips in Paris.

Air France-KLM also fell lower, after bringing back Jean-Cyril Spinetta as its chief executive officer after pressing the ejector seat button for previous boss Pierre-Henri Gourgeon. Spinetta was chief executive of the airline before moving into the chairman seat.

French luxury brand Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) fell early on as investors worried how the company would fare in China, a key market for luxury goods firms. However, forecast-beating third quarter results were enough to bring the share price back into the blue.

Yoghurt maker Danone also rose after third quarter sales came in ahead of expectations.

Car makers were heading in the right direction in Frankfurt after figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association revealed that Germany was the only car market in Europe to show new car sale growth last month.

Volkswagen and BMW finished the day in blue.

Source: www.sharecast.com

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