EUROPE MARKETS: Mining Stocks Gain Ground, But European Indexes Pull Back
July 17 2017 - 5:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. government announces contract winners for high-speed
railway project
Stocks in Europe edged lower Monday, but mining shares kept the
upward pace after China's quarterly growth figures topped
expectations.
The Stoxx Europe 600 turned down 0.2% to 386,17 as most major
European indexes began to reverse course and lose ground. Last
week, the Stoxx 600 rose 1.8%, the largest gain since early
May.
Among key benchmarks, Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.6% to
12,561. There, shares of Commerzbank AG (CBK.XE) were down 0.5%,
with a downgrade to hold from buy of the lender at Kepler
Cheuvreux, according to Dow Jones Newswires. France's CAC 40 index
fell 0.4% to 5,218.06.
But the telecom group put in the best performance Monday on the
Stoxx 600, with Telenor ASA (TEL.OS) soaring 7.6% after the
Norwegian telecom company launched a new share buyback program and
raised guidance
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/telenor-launches-share-buyback-raises-guidance-2017-07-17-3485414).
Gains in the basic materials group were led by mining stocks,
which were bolstered after China's second-quarter gross domestic
product growth
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-economy-beats-outlook-grows-69-in-q2-2017-07-16)
came in at 6.9%, higher than a 6.8% estimate in a Wall Street
Journal survey of economists. Data from China, a major consumer of
industrial and precious metals, also showed strengthening in
industrial production and retail sales.
In the group, shares of diversified miner Anglo American
(AAL.LN) tacked on 2.3%, as did shares of gold miner Centamin PLC .
Commodity producer and trader Glencore PLC (GLEN.LN) picked up
2.2%. Steel pipes producer Tenaris SA(TEN.MI) moved up 1.5%.
China's "solid growth reinforces recoveries for commodity
exporters and keeps 2017's pickup in global growth on track," said
Bill Adams, senior international economist at PNC Financial
Services Group, in a note. "And with little sign of global
inflationary pressure from either labor markets or commodity
prices, this global expansion has room to run."
Stock movers: Carillion PLC shares (CLLN.LN) zoomed up 17% as
the infrastructure services company's joint venture partnership won
two U.K. government contracts worth 1.4 billion pounds ($1.80
billion). The companies will help build Britain's planned High
Speed 2 railway.
Balfour Beatty PLC's (BBY.LN) joint venture also landed two HS2
contracts, valued at GBP2.5 billion. Its shares claimed at 2.8%
rise.
ITV PLC shares (ITV.LN) climbed 2.9% after the U.K. broadcaster
said easyJet PLC's (EZJ.LN) boss Carolyn McCall will become its new
chief executive on Jan. 8
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/easyjet-boss-carolyn-mccall-to-become-itvs-ceo-2017-07-17).
EasyJet said it's already started looking for McCall's successor.
Shares of the budget airline reversed course and rose 0.3%.
Other indexes: The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% to 7,390.91.
Spain's IBEX 35 shed 0.3% to 10,616.
The euro traded at $1.1452, down from $1.1470 late Friday in New
York.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 17, 2017 05:33 ET (09:33 GMT)
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