LONDON (AFX) - European markets at midday
LONDON (AFX) - Shares remained under pressure at midday, weighed down by weakness in the mining and oil sectors, while indications of a lower opening on Wall Street also kept the FTSE 100 in negative territory, dealers said.
By 12.20 pm, the FTSE 100 index was down 39.3 points at 5,839.7, while the broader indices were also weaker.
Volume remained below par, with 820.5 mln shares changing hands in 127,502 deals.
Miners were uniformly weak. Vedanta had lost 53 pence to 1,274, Kazakhmys was down 58 pence to 1,228, Xstrata off 66 pence to 2,268, Rio Tinto off 113 pence to 2559 and BHP Billiton dropping 45 pence to 937.
FRANKFURT (AFX) - Shares were lower at midday after losses in Tokyo this morning and as US stock futures pointed to a negative opening there, with automakers among the worst performers following downbeat comments from Credit Suisse, dealers said.
At 11.34 am, the DAX 30 index was 37.92 points or 0.65 pct lower at 5,757.34, having moved between 5,737.20 and 5,778.93 so far this session.
The MDAX was at 8,075.38, down 51.56 points or 0.63 pct, while the TecDAX was at 633.74, down 4.44 points or 0.70 pct.
The DAX futures contract was at 5,760.00, down 48.00 points or 0.83 pct, while bund futures were at 117.34, up 0.02 point.
PARIS (AFX) - Share prices were broadly lower at midday amid growing concerns of slowing economic growth in both Europe and the US next year, prompting investors to extend last week's consolidation trend, dealers said.
At 12.36 pm the CAC-40 index was down 37.84 points or 0.8 pct at 5,035.73, on volume of 1.4 bln eur.
On the Matif, September CAC-40 futures were trading off 37.5 points at 5,038, while the euro rose to 1.2724 usd from 1.2671 usd late on Friday.
An unexpected drop in French industrial production for July, when nearly every economist expected a recovery from weakness in previous months, was also weighing on sentiment, dealers said.
AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Share prices were lower in midday trade, weighed down by oils and lower US futures, indicating a negative Wall Street opening later today, dealers said.
At 12.36 pm, the AEX was down 3.20 points or 0.69 pct at 461.27, after opening at 462.09 and trading in a range of 460.17-462.67.
Falling oil prices hit heavyweight oil stocks on the AEX, after OPEC ministers indicated they will maintain the cartel's official output ceiling. SBM Offshore and Royal Dutch Shell went down 2.31 pct to 20.70 and 1.93 pct lower to 25.95 respectively. Fugro was off 2.89 pct to 33.55.
MILAN (AFX) - Share prices were lower at midday, dragged down by oil companies, while Fastweb and Pirelli were underpinned by expectations of a thorough review of Telecom Italia's strategy, dealers said.
At 12.14 pm, the Mibtel was down 0.59 pct at 28,847 points and the S&P/Mib rose 0.61 pct to 37,583.
Trading in Telecom Italia shares was suspended pending a board meeting this afternoon to discuss a reorganisation of its fixed and mobile assets.
Industry sources said that the company is expected to spin off its mobile telephony and fixed line network into separate companies.
MADRID - (AFX) Share prices were lower at midday as lower US futures pointed to a weak start on Wall Street, with Metrovacesa outperforming and Repsol YPF and other blue chips down, dealers said.
At 12.34 pm, the IBEX-35 index had dropped 61.4 points to 12,020.4, after trading in a range of 11,969-12,051, on thin turnover of 878 mln eur.
Repsol YPF was down 0.32 eur at 21.72 eur amid easing oil prices and concerns the oil major could see further restrictions in Algeria.
HELSINKI (AFX) - Shares were lower in midday trade, with Nokia shrugging off its firmer ADR price on Wall Street and falling to continue its straight run of losses since the beginning of the month, dealers said.
At 1.07 pm, the OMX Helsinki 25 was 0.79 pct lower at 2,496.16 and the OMX Helsinki was down 0.67 pct at 8,534.32, on 245 mln eur of turnover.
Nokia was down 0.46 pct to 15.08 eur after it said it will cooperate with Motorola, the second biggest mobile maker, to achieve interoperability among their DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld) enabled mobile devices and network services.
Neste Oil was 1.53 pct weaker at 22.60 eur, not benefiting from an upgrade to 'neutral' from 'reduce' by UBS on valuation grounds.
STOCKHOLM (AFX) - Shares remained in slightly negative territory in midday trade, weakening a touch from morning levels on deepening profit-taking, with Nordic and Baltic bourse owner OMX outperforming on continuing merger speculation, dealers said.
At 12.30 pm, the OMX Stockholm index was down 0.66 pct at 319.99 points, while the OMX Stockholm 30 index was down 0.71 pct at 991.97.
The main sub-indices moving at midday were industrials, down 0.88 pct; retailing, 0.78 pct higher; and materials, down 1.92 pct.
BRUSSELS (AFX) - Shares were little changed late morning, with InBev rising after Delta Lloyd Securities increased its target price on the brewer, analysts said.
At 11.25 am, the Bel 20 was off 6.65 points or 0.17 pct at 3,875.08.
InBev was up 0.03 eur or 0.07 pct at 41.43 eur. Broker DLS raised its estimates on the company following its strong second-quarter results and upped its target to 40.50 eur from 39.00.
"Following the stronger than expected results we have raised our estimates for the years to come", said DLS, giving earnings-per-share estimates of 2.24 eur, 2.62 eur and 2.93 eur for 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively.
Top stories
LONDON (AFX) - UK casino group Stanley Leisure PLC confirmed it has recommended to shareholders an 860 pence per share offer by Genting International Ltd, valuing the company at 639 mln stg.
Stanley Leisure's chief executive Bob Wiper said the offer "represents fair value and provides appropriate certainty" for the company's shareholders.
Stanley confirmed the offer is being made after Genting bought an additional 3.74 mln shares, equivalent to a 5.3 pct stake in Stanley Leisure, for 860 pence a share from Stanley Leisure chairman Leonard Steinberg.
Genting said it now has a 30.5 pct stake in Stanley Leisure.
MADRID (AFX) - A Telefonica SA spokesman declined to comment on reports it is interested in acquiring Telecom Italia SpA's mobile unit TIM, as published in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Telecom Italia's board will meet today to discuss reorganisation measures, which are expected to include the sale of TIM and of Telecom Italia's mobile phone unit in Brazil, TIM Brasil.
The newspaper reported that other interested parties include the Carlyle private equity fund.
LONDON (AFX) - Shares in Next took a plunge in midmorning deals, with Panmure Gordon failing to be impressed by weekend press speculation of a private equity bid for 2,000 pence per share, and ahead of the retailer's interims this Wednesday, dealers said.
At 11.12 am, shares in the clothes retailer had slipped 32 pence to 1,695, while the FTSE 100 lost 41.2 points at 5,838.2.
Panmure Gordon repeated its 'hold' stance on the stock, saying there is nothing of substance in the weekend press to back up the rumours.
LONDON (AFX) - Bovis Homes PLC said it is optimistic about the full year after it increased interim pretax profit by 18 pct to 53.1 mln stg.
Operating revenue for the six months to June 30 rose to 250.5 mln stg from 214.5 last time, with average sales prices rising to 188,700 stg from 179,700.
CEO Malcolm Harris, said: "The group has successfully increased the volume of legal completions year-on-year by 16 pct and the operating margin has been sustained broadly in line with that achieved in the comparable period of 2005."
LONDON (AFX) - Associated British Foods PLC said the reduction in earnings in the second half of the year, predicted at the time of the company's first-half results in April, are line with its expectations.
The decline is due to price pressure in the group's EU sugar businesses, tough trading in the bakery operations and higher energy costs.
AB Foods said its Primark budget clothing chain enjoyed strong trading in the second half and forecast like-for-like sales up 3 pct for the full year ended Sept 16.
FRANKFURT (AFX) - Deutsche Lufthansa AG said its overall load factor in August was 71.3 pct, up 1.0 percentage point year-on-year.
The passenger load factor was 76.5 pct, up 1.1 percentage point, while the cargo load factor rose 4.7 percentage points to 65.1 pct
Passenger traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose 0.9 pct in August to 10.084 bln.
The number of passengers carried in August grew 3.5 pct year-on-year to 4.730 mln.
LONDON (AFX) - Group 4 Securicor PLC posted a 4.7 pct increase in first-half earnings and said "substantive discussions" are underway for the divestment of its cash services business in Germany.
Profit before interest, tax, and amortisation at constant exchange rates rose to 120.1 mln stg from 114.7 mln stg the previous year.
However, it said its cash services business market in Germany has still not improved following the sale of its Heros business earlier this year.
It said the pricing environment continues to be difficult, and "unless and until this changes", the business will continue to perform poorly.
LONDON (AFX) - Lloyd's insurer Hiscox PLC saw first half pretax profits to end-June fall to 61.3 mln stg compared to the 88.1 mln stg in the first half of 2005 due to growing competition in sectors not affected by natural catastrophes.
The result was well below analysts' consensus forecast of 75 mln stg.
Gross premiums written rose to 625.1 mln stg from 437.2 mln stg this time last year.
Robert Hiscox, chairman of Hiscox, said: "The rates for business in obvious catastrophe zones have strengthened throughout the period, but this has been offset by increasing competition for non-catastrophe exposed business."
LONDON (AFX) - Helphire Group PLC, which supplies hire cars to non-fault victims of motor accidents, reported a substantial rise in full-year profits on the back of strong growth in all its businesses and predicted further progress in the current year.
In the 15-month period to June 30 2006, pretax profits before amortisation and charges amounted to 32.5 mln stg, 118 pct higher than the 12-month period to end-March 2005.
Turnover grew to 231.4 mln stg in the 15 months to June, a rise of 95 pct compared with the previous 12-month period. On an annualised basis, turnover was 65 pct higher.
LONDON (AFX) - Regus Group, a provider of outsourced office space, announced a sharp rise in first-half earnings, boosted by strong underlying demand and a string acquisitions.
Pretax profits for the first six months of 2006 jumped 124.5 pct to 31.2 mln, as revenues grew 40.1 pct to 302.6 mln after it bought the outstanding 58 pct in its UK business in April.
Aside from the UK deal, smaller acquisitions accounted for some 32 out of the 46 new business centres it opened in the period, said Regus.
On an underlying basis, revenues rose 14.5 pct.
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