EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Slip, But Maintain Weekly Gains
December 24 2015 - 12:36PM
Dow Jones News
By Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
PostNL soars amid takeover talk
European stocks mostly edged lower in an abbreviated Christmas
Eve session on Thursday, but held on to gains for the
holiday-shortened week.
The Stoxx Europe 600 dipped by less than 0.1% to settle at
366.28, leaving the index up 1.4% for the week.
PostNL N.V. (PNLYY) helped limit the drop, as shares in the
Dutch postal operator jumped 13% to 3.70 euros ($4.05), for the
biggest gain among the index's components.
PostNL may see a bid of EUR5 per share from Royal Mail PLC
(RMG.LN), said a note on Thursday from ING analysts that cited a
Mergermarket article. The Dutch company played down the buyout
talk.
"We do not recognize these rumors and see no reason to react on
them," said a PostNL spokesman, Dick Kors, in an email to
MarketWatch.
On Wednesday, the Stoxx Europe 600 finished at its highest level
in more than two weeks
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-leap-as-investors-go-holiday-bargain-hunting-2015-12-23),
as investors picked up battered shares of commodity producers.
Trading volume had been expected to be light on Thursday, with
exchanges set to close early for Christmas Eve. Trading in the U.K.
stopped at 12:30 p.m. London time (7:30 a.m. Eastern Time), and it
ended in France at 2 p.m. Central European Time (8 a.m. Eastern
Time).
Germany's exchange and some other European markets were closed
for the whole day. European stock trading will shut down completely
for Christmas on Friday.
Read: When are European markets closed for Christmas and New
Year's?
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-are-european-markets-closed-for-christmas-and-new-years-2015-12-23)
Among the national indexes on Thursday, France's CAC 40 closed
0.2% lower at 4,663.18, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to
end at 6,254.64
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uks-ftse-100-edges-higher-adding-to-this-weeks-sizable-gain-2015-12-24).
Germany's DAX 30 showed no action as Frankfurt trading was
suspended for Christmas Eve.
For the week, France's benchmark gained 0.8%, the FTSE surged
3.3% and the DAX advanced 1.1%.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 24, 2015 12:21 ET (17:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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