LONDON, Jan 16: European stock markets mostly climbed on Monday, but Frankfurt shares slid on broker downgrades, while trading was expected to be thin ahead of Martin Luther King day in the US.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.23 per cent to 5,724.10 points in early deals, and in Paris the CAC 40 firmed 0.03 per cent to 4,851.97, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 eased 0.04 per cent to 5,480.93 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.11 Per cent to 3,633.31 points.
The euro stood at 1.2152 dollars.
In Frankfurt trading, insurance giant Allianz fell 0.28 per cent to 129.31 euros after Merrill Lynch downgraded its stance on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’.
And fellow heavyweight Siemens dropped 0.58 per cent to 71.75 euros after Lehman Brothers downgraded its stance to ‘underweight’ from ‘equal-weight’
In London, Old Mutual saw its share price rise 0.71 per cent to 176.25 pence after the Anglo-South African insurer said that investors holding a total of 68.6 per cent of Swedish rival Skandia had accepted its hostile takeover bid.
The deadline for the 4.8-billion-euro ($5.6-billion) offer, aimed at creating the world’s eighth-biggest insurance group in Europe, has been extended to January 23.
Skandia shares jumped 0.61 per cent to 49.1 Swedish kronor, outperforming the OMX Stockholm 30 Index, which slipped 0.15 per cent to 965.77 points.
In Asia on Monday, Japanese share prices closed lower as investors opted to take profits on recent gains and took a cautious stance ahead of the company results season, dealers said.
Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index finished 1.14 per cent down at 16,268.03 points.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index closed flat at 15,777.72 points as the market took a breather following recent strong gains, with falls in Tokyo and a lacklustre performance by Wall Street Friday keeping trade cautious.
On Friday, US stocks had limped to a flat finish as investors digested generally positive economic news and some key earnings warnings but made no major moves ahead of the three-day holiday weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02 per cent to 10,959.87 points, while the Nasdaq composite rose a fractional 0.02 per cent to 2,317.04.
The broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 index edged up 0.12 per cent to 1,287.61.—AFP
