European stocks dip
Friday, 1 August 2008
LONDON, July 31 (AFP): Europe's main stock markets slipped into the red Thursday as investors tracked a flurry of company earnings reports, and set aside overnight gains on Wall Street, dealers said.
Approaching midday trade in London, the FTSE 100 index of top companies stood at 5,394.00 points, a drop of 0.49 per cent.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.15 per cent to 6,450.12 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.08 per cent to 4,396.99.
Investors kept an eye on crude oil prices, which held steady after jumping by more than four dollars a barrel Wednesday. Higher energy costs eat into company profits and tend to weigh on share prices.
In London Thursday, British telecoms operator BT Group topped the fallers board on the FTSE 100.
BT shares tumbled 12.4 per cent to 173.1 pence after revealing that net profits sank 35 per cent in the first quarter of its fiscal year amid fierce competition for broadband Internet services and higher restructuring costs.
Net profits stood at 397 million pounds (504 million euros, US$786 million) in the three months to the end of June, which compared with the same period a year earlier.
Anglo-Dutch food products and cosmetics giant Unilever saw its shares dive 7.28 per cent to 1,400 pence, after it reported a 19.0-per cent slump in net second-quarter profit on restructuring charges.
On the upside, shares in British bank HBOS rallied 6.08 per cent to 287.75 pence, despite news of a 56-per cent slump in first-half net profits.
The bank also said its recent 4.0-billion-pounds rights issue was completed and would strengthen its capital base amid the global credit crunch which erupted on world markets in August last year.
British energy major Royal Dutch Shell saw its 'B' shares gain 0.72 per cent to 1,818 pence.
Shell said Thursday that net profit jumped by a third to $11.556 billion (7.409 billion euros) in the second quarter owing to record high oil prices.
In Frankfurt, BASF, the world's biggest chemical company, said net profit jumped 27 per cent to 1.30 billion euros in the second quarter, but the news failed to lift its shares. BASF stock declined 0.87 per cent to 40.79 euros.
In addition, German auto parts group Continental said net profit fell by 36 per cent in the second quarter to 194.3 million euros. Continental shares nudged 0.07 per cent lower to 71.88 euros.
Wall Street had finished with gains Wednesday, shaking off a surge in oil prices, after a private survey showed an increase in hiring and as the Federal Reserve extended its assistance to stretched finance firms.
Approaching midday trade in London, the FTSE 100 index of top companies stood at 5,394.00 points, a drop of 0.49 per cent.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.15 per cent to 6,450.12 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.08 per cent to 4,396.99.
Investors kept an eye on crude oil prices, which held steady after jumping by more than four dollars a barrel Wednesday. Higher energy costs eat into company profits and tend to weigh on share prices.
In London Thursday, British telecoms operator BT Group topped the fallers board on the FTSE 100.
BT shares tumbled 12.4 per cent to 173.1 pence after revealing that net profits sank 35 per cent in the first quarter of its fiscal year amid fierce competition for broadband Internet services and higher restructuring costs.
Net profits stood at 397 million pounds (504 million euros, US$786 million) in the three months to the end of June, which compared with the same period a year earlier.
Anglo-Dutch food products and cosmetics giant Unilever saw its shares dive 7.28 per cent to 1,400 pence, after it reported a 19.0-per cent slump in net second-quarter profit on restructuring charges.
On the upside, shares in British bank HBOS rallied 6.08 per cent to 287.75 pence, despite news of a 56-per cent slump in first-half net profits.
The bank also said its recent 4.0-billion-pounds rights issue was completed and would strengthen its capital base amid the global credit crunch which erupted on world markets in August last year.
British energy major Royal Dutch Shell saw its 'B' shares gain 0.72 per cent to 1,818 pence.
Shell said Thursday that net profit jumped by a third to $11.556 billion (7.409 billion euros) in the second quarter owing to record high oil prices.
In Frankfurt, BASF, the world's biggest chemical company, said net profit jumped 27 per cent to 1.30 billion euros in the second quarter, but the news failed to lift its shares. BASF stock declined 0.87 per cent to 40.79 euros.
In addition, German auto parts group Continental said net profit fell by 36 per cent in the second quarter to 194.3 million euros. Continental shares nudged 0.07 per cent lower to 71.88 euros.
Wall Street had finished with gains Wednesday, shaking off a surge in oil prices, after a private survey showed an increase in hiring and as the Federal Reserve extended its assistance to stretched finance firms.