UK/Euro Financial Market Daily Evening Briefing 12-10-2007

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FTSE 100 risers

Northern Rock 273-1/4 up 15-1/4  Virgin Group confirms approach for co BP 619 up 25-1/2
   
Restructuring; revises down Prudhoe fire impact; oil near all-time high Resolution 708-1/2 up 16-1/2  Standard Life looking for partner to support it in possible bid for co - FT

Imperial Tobacco 2,309 up 32    Defensive stock

Scottish & Southern Energy 1,528 up 14   To buy fibre optic network from TeliaSonera for 12.5 mln stg

WPP Group 711-1/2 up 6   UBS predicts upbeat trading statement next week

Cable & Wireless 187-1/2 up 1-1/2   Credit Suisse 'buy' ahead of H1 results

Friends Provident 181 up 1  Upgraded to 'outperform' vs 'peer perform' at Bear Stearns

Whitbread 1,774 up 9  Upgraded to 'buy' from 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs

FTSE 100 fallers

Schroders 1,491 down 69  Evolution Securities cuts to 'reduce' vs 'add'

Taylor Wimpey 281-1/4 down 9-1/2   RICS survey yesterday and recent sector downgrades by UBS

Barratt Developments 699 down 23    RICS survey yesterday and recent sector downgrades by UBS

Vedanta Resources 2,267 down 50    Profit taking

Experian 498 down 10-1/2    Buys further 5 pct stake in Serasa for 72 mln usd

Centrica 383 down 6-1/2   To withdraw from a 200 mln stg redevelopment project - report

British Land 1,094 down 18   Property sector share slide

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Invesco 723 down 11-1/2    Negative broker comment

Royal Bank of Scotland 546 down 7   Planning to dispose of 800 mln stg of property - Times

Anglo American 3,435 down 45   Profit taking following yesterday's strong gains

Kazakhmys 1,584 down 5   Profit taking

FTSE 250 risers

Renishaw 708 up 21    Q1 revenue, profit up on-year; shareholders approve land sale to chairman

Bovis Homes 694 up 10    Buys Elite Homes Group for 25.7 mln stg, plus 46.2 mln net debt

Restaurant Group 297-1/4 up 2     Panmure Gordon retains 'buy' after site visit

FTSE 250 fallers

Rank Group 125 down 34   Says UK trading difficulties worse than expected

Electrocomponents 257-1/2 down 7    Citigroup cut to 'sell' vs 'hold'

JD Wetherspoon 554 down 13   Landsbanki 'reduce', estimates on review following meeting with Jim Clarke

Autonomy Corporation 960 down 39   Yesterday downgraded by Evolution to 'add' vs 'buy'

Other risers

Cyprotex 4-3/4 up 1-1/2    Customer base continuing to expand, optimistic on final 3 months

Inspicio 220 up 29   Says has received approaches to buy co

Islamic Bank of Britain 6.13 up 3/4    Exec commercial director lifts stake in co

Focus Solutions Group 48-1/2 up 5-1/2   H1 trading profitable; sees sales increase at least 35 pct

SMC Group 16-1/4 up 1-3/4   Trading in line with management's expectations

Woolworths Group 21-1/4 up 1/4    Morgan Stanley ups to 'equal-weight' vs 'underweight', target 22 pence

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Other fallers

SCI Entertainment 394 down 15   Yesterday's news Ubisoft will not bid for group

Addworth 2-1/2 down 0.125    Late news yesterday - disposes of entire 6.25 mln share Maypole Group stake

Imprint 81 down 1-1/4    Yesterday's profit warning

Diary of Events

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UK Small Cap Report

For a summary of today's trading on the FTSE 250 and the AIM, click here

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Paris shares close lower; profit-taking blunted by optimism on US economy

The CAC-40 index finished down 18.88 points, or 0.32 pct, at 5,843.95. Among CAC-40 stocks, 28 closed lower and 12 closed higher. On the broader indices, the SBF-80 index closed down 19.23 points, or 0.27 pct, at 7,045.02, and the SBF-120 index finished down 13.47 points, or 0.31 pct, at 4,264.52.
  
The profit-taking that marked the session prior to the US opening was a follow-through from similar activity on Asian markets, and for much of the day the CAC-40 was down more than 1 pct.
   
Glass and building materials company Saint-Gobain closed down 2.32 eur, or 3.10 pct, at 72.60, the largest loss among CAC-40 shares, as Credit Suisse cut the stock to 'neutral' from 'outperform' and lowered its target to 80 eur from 100 eur.
   
The broker said there is no reason for the stock to be trading at a premium to its peers, and it now only expects a 3 pct improvement in operating profit in 2008, which would be 3 pct below consensus estimates.
   
The negative sentiment weighed on the entire construction sector, with Vinci dropping 1.41 eur or 2.57 pct to close at 53.56, and Lafarge closing 1.32 eur or 1.11 pct lower at 117.61.
   
"If Saint-Gobain has been downgraded, and there's a risk it could disappoint, then people are clearly thinking that the same thing could happen to Vinci," a local dealer said.
   
IT stocks that had posted recent gains amid market rumours of a further consolidation in the sector were initially among the day's largest losers, but recovered to close mixed. Capgemini ended up 0.18 eur, or 0.37 pct, at 48.29, STMicroelectronics fell 0.06 eur, or 0.51 pct, at 11.82 and Atos Origin dropped 0.51 eur, or 1.14 pct, to close at 44.39.
   
Business Objects closed down 1.18 eur, or 0.43 pct, at 41.62 after posting early gains of close to 3 pct amid hopes of a 45 eur counter-bid from Oracle.
   
News that the US group is in fact eyeing BEA Systems triggered the downturn in Business Objects shortly after midday. Oracle submitted a 17 usd per share proposal for BEA Systems.
   
Gainers included EADS, which closed up 0.62 eur, or 2.68 pct, at 23.77, after JP Morgan raised its target to 28 eur from 26 eur and added the group to its analyst focus list, saying the recent pick-up in orders is likely to prompt a change in sentiment.
       
Suez closed up 0.70 eur, or 1.67 pct, at 42.55, and would-be merger partner Gaz de France finished up 0.54 eur, or 1.45 pct, at 37.84. Veolia Environnement ended up 0.86 eur, or 1.39 pct, at 62.60, while EDF closed up 0.30 eur, or 0.39 pct, at 77.52.
   
Positive notes from major brokers also lent support to the utilities. Cheuvreux raised Suez to its 'selected list' from 'outperform', saying the group sports solid fundamentals and an attractive valuation as it trades at an 11 pct discount to its peers.
   
JP Morgan upped its price target for Veolia Environnement to 73 eur from 67 eur previously and reiterated its 'overweight' stance, saying the stock is trading at an "unnecessary" discount to its sector.

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German shares close slightly higher on encouraging US economic data

The DAX closed up 7.57 points, or 0.09 pct, at 8,041.26, reaching its highest level of the day after it fell to 7,974.87 earlier in today's session. The MDAX retreated 1.41 points, or 0.01 pct, to 10,755.09, while the TecDAX gained 0.77 points, or 0.08 pct, at 1,014.67. DAX futures were up 49.50 points, or 0.61 pct, at 8,101.50, while bund futures lost 0.42, or 0.37 pct, to 111.78.
   
Commerzbank led blue chips higher, adding 0.66 eur or 2.16 pct to 31.25, as dealers pointed to vague rumours of a possible merger or that it might be the takeover target of Italian peer Intesa SanPaolo.
   
"The talk is really typical of a Friday-type rumour, especially on the coattails of talk of a takeover by Societe Generale yesterday," said a Frankfurt-based trader. "Intesa has just completed a merger with Sanpaolo, and it is very unlikely that it would be considering another merger or takeover so soon," he added.
   
Deutsche Post followed, rising 0.39 eur or 1.80 pct to 22.06. 
   
Bayer gained 0.94 eur or 1.66 pct to 57.66 after the company said its Betaferon multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment was shown to be effective in a study, in which it was given shortly after patients suffered the first attack on their nervous system from the debilitating disease.
   
SAP added 0.57 eur, or 1.46 pct, to 39.51, with traders pointing to a Oracle Corp's confirmation that it has offered 17 usd per share in cash to take over peer BEA Systems Inc.
   
"The confirmation might be helping as it eases concerns of a bidding war for [SAP's takeover target] Business Objects and that SAP's 20 pct premium is too high," said a local trader. Henkel rose 0.33 eur or 0.91 pct to 36.47.
   
Lufthansa was the largest decliner, dropping 0.47 eur or 2.16 pct to 21.25, as it corrected from a two-day long upward push after the airline released strong September passenger data on Wednesday.
   
Infineon lost 0.19, or 1.71 pct, to 10.90, tracking a general weakness in US chip and semiconductor companies on Wall Street yesterday, which dealers attributed to a fall in the SOX industry index and an announcement from industry giant Samsung Corp that it expects DRAM chip prices to remain under pressure for longer that earlier expected.
   
MAN was down 1.44 eur, or 1.19 pct, at 119.85 as speculation once again waned of a possible tie-up with Scania and Volkswagen. Fresenius Medical Care declined 0.31 eur or 0.86 pct to 35.83, while BMW lost 0.40 eur, or 0.84 pct, to 47.23.
   
Over on the MDAX, IVG rose to the top, adding 0.91 eur or 3.25 pct to 28.93, while AWD lost 1.16 eur or 4.64 pct to 23.84 at the other end. 
   
TecDAX-listed Wirecard gained 0.99 eur or 9.07 pct to 11.91 following Morgan Stanley's initiation of the online payments processor with an 'overweight' rating and a 14.3 eur per share target. Meanwhile, QSC declined 0.22 eur or 5.79 pct to 3.58.

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Amsterdam shares close slightly up as Wall Street trades higher

The AEX closed 1.13 point, or 0.20 pct, higher at the day's high of 559.14 after opening at 553.64 and reaching a low of 552.03. Government bonds were lower and the euro stood at 1.4161 usd versus 1.4224 usd late yesterday.
   
Hagemeyer continued up 4.54 pct to 5.07 in high trade volume as speculation continued regarding the company's future after the recent 4.25 eur-per share takeover offer from peer Sonepar, although leading Hagemeyer stakeholder Orbis Investment Management called the offer "unacceptable".
   
Another Hagemeyer shareholder, MF Global Limited, said it had built up a 6.31 pct stake in Hagemeyer by Oct 5 and sold it by Oct 8. KPN also saw some trading volume, with the issue closing up 1.02 pct to 12.86.
   
Among food and drink related issues, Heineken climbed 0.98 pct to 46.58 and Ahold lifted 0.55 pct to 10.95. Numico put on 0.07 pct to 54.60 after spending most of the day in negative territory amid news the European Union extended the deadline for its inquiry into Danone's purchase of Numico
   
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell rose 0.89 pct to 29.35 while oil services group SBM Offshore gained 0.38 pct at 28.75 and Fugro strengthened 1.68 pct to 57.99.
   
Among tech-related issues, Philips went 0.72 pct higher 21.15 ahead of third-quarter results expected Monday and after peer General Electric posted a higher third-quarter profit. ASML lost 0.45 pct to 21.97 while midcapper ASMI put on 2.94 pct to 20.66.
   
Financials turned mainly higher in late afternoon trade, with ING up 0.53 pct to 32.45, Aegon adding 0.21 pct at 14.18, and SNS Reaal adding 1.08 pct at 16.80. BinckBank was down 2.82 pct to 13.11 and Fortis shed 0.30 pct to 23.15 in high trading volume
   
Heijmans provided the news of the day, dropping more than 19 pct to 28.90 after the company issued a profit warning, with AFS Brokers downgrading the issue to 'reduce' and cutting its price target to 28 eur from 36. Petercam put its 'buy' recommendation under review. Fellow construction issue BAM slipped 1.24 pct to 18.39 while Boskalis Westminster strengthened 2.67 pct t 38.84.
   
ArcelorMittal led AEX decliners, trading 1.84 pct lower to 55.46 eur, followed by Vedior, down 1.70 pct to 16.81 and Unibail-Rodamco, off 1.06 pct to 182.66.
   
Local real estate listing Nieuwe Steen closed 0.26 pct lower to 19.35 after outperforming early in the day after it reported in-line results for the first 9 months of the year.

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