European Equities Drift in Quiet Trading Conditions
The lack of any impetus from the London stock market and a quiet start to the week on Wall Street left Europe's leading bourses marking time yesterday.
At the close, the pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300 index was down 0.2 per cent at 980.06, having spent the day in a narrow 3-point range.
There was some initial excitement at French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis' announcement that a clinical study had shown its Acomplia anti-obesity drug had helped people lose weight.
Acomplia is expected to contribute several billion euros to the company's annual sales should it get marketing approval. The World Health Organisation estimates that about 300m people worldwide are obese.
The company was officially created a week ago following Sanofi-Synthelabo's successful takeover of larger Franco-German rival Aventis.
Sanofi-Aventis shares climbed as high as _59.55 before drifting back to finish 0.8 per cent higher at _59.05.
Interbrew, the Belgian brewing group, put in one of the Eurotop 300's best performances after it said its current chief financial officer would be succeeded by his counterpart at Brazil's AmBev following the merger of the two companies.
Shareholders of both companies last week approved the creation of InBev, which will be the world's largest brewer by volume.
Interbrew shares ended 1.8 per cent stronger at _26.
On the way down, travel group Tui slipped 1.2 per cent to _15.43 as investors booked profits following a month-long rebound, which should ensure its survival in the German blue-chip Dax index.
Meanwhile, German bank WestLB was reported to be in talks with strategic investors about its holding in Tui. Thomas Fischer, WestLB's chief executive, said in an interview with the FT that the bank wanted to sell the stake by the end of the year.
The Spanish banking sector came under the spotlight following a weekend press report that Santander Central Hispano was planning to speed up its bid for UK mortgage lender Abbey National.
Santander now expects to obtain clearance for the deal in mid-September, with completion in November. HBOS, the UK's biggest mortgage lender, has said it is considering making a challenge to Santander's bid.
Meanwhile, rival Banco Bilbao Vizcaria Argentaria's chairman, Francisco Gonzalez, said the bank's performance this year would lay the foundations for an "extraordinary" year in 2005, though he did not elaborate.
BSCH shares inched up 0.1 per cent to _8.01 while BBVA firmed 0.2 per cent to _10.98.
Moeller Maersk, the Danish shipping and oil group, ran into profit-taking after moving higher on Friday on the back of a 46 per cent surge in first-half profits. The shares fell 2.3 per cent to DKr42,700.
Traders said the stock was downgraded by Jyske Bank to "reduce" from "buy" on the belief that freight rates and the container market would peak in the coming six to nine months because of significant new capacity in the second half.
Atlas Copco, the Swedish heavy machinery maker, gave up 1.7 per cent at SKr268. The company announced the sale of its electric tool business to Hong Kong-based Techtronic Industries for SKr5.4bn in order to focus on core activities.
The woes at Alitalia continued as shares in the Italian flag carrier fell 1 per cent to _0.1988 despite reports that unions were considering accepting job cuts to prevent the airline's collapse. The stock hit an all-time low of _19.70 last week after the company's chairman described its financial outlook as "terrible."
Local media have suggested that up to a third of Alitalia's 20,000-plus employees could be declared "surplus" by management. Last week, the government reiterated its pledge that it would allow the carrier to go bankrupt if unions failed to agree to a cost-cutting deal by the middle of next month.
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