By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Losses for European stock markets picked
up pace on Friday and turned lower as investors fretted over
whether a prior-session rout -- fueled by weak Chinese data -- was
the start of a trend. Broker moves weighed on shares of Sanofi SA,
but lifted shares of Nokia Corp. Shares of Celesio AG were up on
buyout news.
Gainers overtook decliners on the Stoxx Europe 600 index , which
fell 0.5% to 330.87. The index closed 1% lower to 332.69 on
Thursday for the biggest one-day percentage loss since early
December, while in the U.S., the Dow industrials (DJI) suffered the
worst loss in five weeks.
Shares of Celesio AG jumped more than 5%, the biggest gainer on
the main European index. On Thursday, U.S. drug distribution group
McKesson Corp. (MCK) said it had agreement from German conglomerate
Franz Haniel & Cie, a major shareholder in Celesio, to sell its
50% stake in the company for 23.50 euros a share. McKesson also
persuaded Elliot Management to release convertible bonds in the
company.
Nokia (NOK) rose 1.3% after analysts at Societe Generale lifted
shares to buy from hold, citing a buying opportunity after
Thursday's 11% share-price fall. Nokia shares fell on disappointing
results, but analysts at SocGen said there was some hope in
upwardly revised guidance for intellectual-property license fees
from EUR500 million to EUR600 million annually, due to higher fees
expected from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
Shares of Sanofi SA (SNY) fell 2% after the pharmaceutical group
was cut to neutral from buy at Citigroup, where analysts said
consensus downgrades are likely, given recent pipeline/divisional
disappointments. Losses for the heavyweight weighed on the French
CAC 40 index , down 0.6% to 4,256.
Also in the drug space, shares of Novartis AG (NVS) dropped 1%.
The company said it would request re-examination of its serelaxin
treatment in acute heart failure for conditional
marketing-authorization in the EU, following a negative opinion
from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medical Products
for Human Use.
Sentiment was worsening as the morning progressed, matched by a
decline for U.S. stock futures. Asia stocks posted sharp losses
overnight, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng index dropping 1.2% and the
Nikkei 225 index losing close to 2%.
"There's a number of reasons why investors are feeling a little
down in the dumps at the moment," said Craig Erlam, market analyst
with Alpari U.K., in a note. "Corporate-earnings season has been
mixed from an investor standpoint, and disappointing from an
economic one. Companies have continued to focus on the bottom-line
growth driven by cost-cutting rather than investment and stronger
revenues, which is what we'll need to see if the recovery is going
to gather pace this year."
Within other indexes, the German DAX 30 fell 0.4% to 9,595.73,
while the FTSE 100 index lost 0.3% to 6,753.81.
of Legrand SA ... after Credit Suisse upgraded to neutral from
underperform, saying the compay could offset sluggish growth with
increased acquisition activity.
SAP AG (SAP) was cut to hold from buy at Berenberg by analysts
who cited risks around potential mergers and acquisition activity
that could trigger integration and earnings risks for its cloud
market.
Sanofi SA (SNY) was cut to neutral from buy at Citigroup as
analysts said consensus downgrades are likely given recent
pipeline/divisional disappointments.
Wacker Chemie AG was cut to underweight from neutral at J.P.
Morgan, which said shareshave strongly outperformed the market in
the last three months but that's based on a polysilicon supply
shortage which they don't see happening.
Compass Group was cut to neutral from overweight and IVS Group
was cut to neutral from ovewreight at J.P> Morgan
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires