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Europe index futures gain 1 pct, echo Wall St
Fri Feb 8, 2008 2:13am EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page | Recommend (0) [-] Text [+]

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¥ € $ - Learn. Practice. Trade.LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - European stock index futures rose 1 percent in early trade on Friday, mirroring a recovery in U.S. stocks the day before.

March Euro Stoxx50 futures STXEH8 were up 0.9 percent at 0710 GMT, while DAX futures FDXH8 rose 0.97 percent and CAC-40 futures gained FCEH8 0.7 percent.

U.S. indexes reversed a three-day fall on Thursday as a recovery in battered retail and financial shares help offset another batch of gloomy economic data. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper)

Europe stocks stage broad rebound after Wall St bounce
Fri Feb 8, 2008 4:04am EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page | Recommend (0) [-] Text [+]

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¥ € $ - Learn. Practice. Trade.By Amanda Cooper

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares rose on Friday, echoing a rebound on Wall Street, while a rally in crude oil helped energy stocks and the tech sector recovered some of this week's losses.

Construction group Sacyr Vallehermoso (SVO.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 3.7 percent after a newspaper report that a French-backed group of banks and insurers were in talks to buy its one third stake in Eiffage (FOUG.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

French construction group Lafarge (LAGA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 3.4 percent after a newspaper report said investment group GBL may raise its stake to 18 percent and possibly to 25 percent.

The rise in crude oil futures to close to $89 a barrel helped push up shares in BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS: Quote, Profile, Research), which moved up between 0.6 and 1.4 percent.

By 0843 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.4 percent at 1,314.66 points. The index has fallen by nearly 4 percent this week as concern has grown about the outlook for the U.S. economy, and analysts doubted any rally would be very long lived.

"The market is becoming aware that the crisis in the United States will indeed have an adverse impact on growth in Europe," said Heino Ruland, a strategist at FrankfurtFinanz in Germany.

"The (European) Q4 reporting season, which in my view will be quite good ... won't change the fact that we are in a bear market trend."

BOUNCING BACK FOR NOW Continued...

Europe stocks stage broad rebound after Wall St bounce
Fri Feb 8, 2008 4:04am EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page | Recommend (0) [-] Text [+]

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$0 stock trades. 10 free per month. The broader European market fell nearly 2 percent on Thursday when the European Central Bank left euro zone rates at 4.00 percent, as expected.

The bank was viewed to be more likely to loosen monetary policy after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet stressed the risk of slower growth alongside inflation pressures, but this did little to reassure equity investors.

"No one is looking at interest rates with any particular enthusiasm as we're still worried about inflation," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, a director at 7 Investment Management.

"You'd be betting against a wall of worry. Although markets are climbing a wall of worry, they do so on the basis of they've got a rope attached," he said.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) joined the ranks of increasingly pessimistic tech companies, scrapping its dividend and recording a loss in its first year as a merged entity, as it cited an uncertain market outlook.

Alcatel-Lucent made an annual loss of 443 million euros ($647.8 million), which beat forecasts in a Reuters poll for a loss of 789 million. Its shares rose 3.6 percent.

Other tech and telecoms stock gained some respite from Thursday's sell-off as Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) rose between 2.3 and 2.8 percent respectively.

Nordic telecoms operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) topped the list of losers, falling 6.6 percent after its earnings missed expectations and it announced a raft of job cuts.

The rise in index heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell helped push up London's FTSE 100 index .FTSE by 1.2 percent. The index fell nearly 3 percent on Thursday after the Bank of England cut British interest rates but reiterated its concern about rising inflation pressures. Continued...


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Europe stocks stage broad rebound after Wall St bounce
Fri Feb 8, 2008 4:04am EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page | Recommend (0) [-] Text [+]

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$0 stock trades. 10 free per month. Elsewhere in Europe, Frankfurt's DAX .GDAXI gained 1.5 percent and Paris' CAC 40 .FCHI rose 1.1 percent.

(Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by David Cowell)

3:21 PM - The volatility continues in the market. Sensex is at 17469, down 57 points and Nifty is at 5116, down 16 points from the previous close. The market breadth is negative with advances at 199 against declines of 1022 on the NSE

Rupee slips on jittery stocks; exporters cap losses



Click to enlarge photo
MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee slipped in afternoon trade on Friday, tracking see-sawing Indian equities, though dollar selling by exporters checked the local unit's decline, dealers said.

* At 2:50 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was was at 39.602/612 per dollar, weaker than previous close of 39.535/545.

* India's benchmark share index see-sawed on Friday, dipping into the red only to recoup those losses. It fell 3.4 percent on Thursday, weighed down by fears of a U.S. recession.

* Japan's Nikkei index fell 1.4 percent on Friday. Markets in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia were closed for the Lunar New Year ho

Emaar MGF Land postpones IPO in jittery market




MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Emaar MGF Land, an Indian joint venture of Dubai's Emaar Properties, has postponed its on-going initial public offering, the company said on Friday.

Emaar, which aimed to raise up to $1.64 billion, had to cut its price band twice and extended its IPO by three days to Feb. 11 after a weak response to the issue in a volatile market.

"The company decided to take this step as a result of the prevailing adverse market sentiments, fuelled by renewed indications of a U.S. recession and global meltdown," it said in a statement.

On Thursday, healthcare services provider Wockhardt Hospitals shelved its IPO after it got subscriptions for only a fifth of the offering of 25.1 million shares. The company had also extended the period and cut the price.

"Given the prevailing sentiments in the capital markets it was unclear how well the stock would trade post listing," Emaar said.

"It has been considered wiser to revisit the markets only when the demand and sentiment is stable and better providing greater value to the investor."

A source close to the company said Emaar MGF would refund the application money in the next 10 to 15 days.

Friday February 8, 03:49 PM BSE Sensex provisionally falls 0.6 pct





MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's main stock index provisionally closed 0.61 percent lower on Friday, with ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro Ltd leading the losses.

The 30-share BSE index provisionally lost 106.80 points to 17,420.18.

The broader NSE index provisionally

GLOBAL MARKETS - Stocks rebound, currencies steady pre-G7



By Natsuko Waki

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks edged away from this week's two-week lows on Friday as a recent sell-off attracted investors looking for bargains, while major currencies held steady ahead of a meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs.

Higher crude oil prices on the back of expectations that cold U.S. weather would boost fuel demand supported energy stocks, while firmer commodity prices including gold and platinum underpinned emerging market assets.

The six-month-old credit crisis has hit balance sheets of major investment banks exposed to the U.S. subprime mortgage sector, threatened to hit corporate profits and drag down the real economy.

Such concerns briefly pushed some sectors of Wall Street this week into a bear market -- a cycle that starts when an index falls 20 percent from a recent market peak.

While this presents good buying opportunities from a valuation point of view, investor sentiment remains fragile, putting the focus firmly on a weekend meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers in Tokyo which will discuss policy responses to the deteriorating economic climate.

"Ministers have more serious issues to talk about than currency markets this time," said Haruhisa Takagi, head of FX spot trading at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.

"The market remains concerned about further fallout from the credit market crisis ... euro zone economies seem slowly being dragged down by the U.S. economic downturn."

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.3 percent, recouping most of the losses made on Thursday.

MSCI main world equity index was up 0.2 percent after hitting its weakest since mid-January.

Emerging stocks were up a quarter percent while emerging sovereign spreads widened 1 basis points.


ECB PAVING WAY FOR EASING

The dollar was steady at 107.65 yen while the euro held near Thursday's two-week low against the U.S. currency at $1.4469 .

The single currency came under pressure on Thursday after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet paved the way for lower interest rates this year by stressing downside euro zone growth risks.

The ECB left rates on hold at 4 percent on Thursday.

"It was more than just opening the door a little bit (for a cut). We think they will cut by 50 bps this year," said Teis Knuthsen, head of FX research at Danske Bank in Copenhagen.

"There is a good chance now that it will be brought forward. Our analysis that markets would increasingly speculate on rate cuts has certain been correct and I think Trichet is slowing moving in that direction as well."

The March Bund future was up 34 basis points.

U.S. light crude rose 0.4 percent to $88.48 a barrel

Gold was steady at $909.50 an ounce while platinum held near Thursday's all-time highs

Friday February 8, 02:16 PM Inflation above 4 pct, rates seen steady




By Unni Krishnan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian inflation breached 4 percent in late January, its highest in nearly five months, and analysts said the upswing meant the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was unlikely to loosen its grip on rates anytime soon despite slowing growth.

The wholesale price index rose 4.11 percent in the 12 months to Jan. 26, higher than the previous week's rate of 3.93 percent and above a median forecast of 3.97 percent in a Reuters poll of analysts, data showed on Friday.

Inflation is still below the RBI's comfort level of 5 percent but it is expected to head up further in the weeks ahead with high food and fuel prices at home and in global markets posing a risk.

"Inflation is coming back to where it was initially expected to be. We maintain the view that inflation should be between 4.0-4.5 percent by the end of the financial year," said Shuchita Mehta, chief India economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

"We still remain concerned over high agri-commodity prices as well as local crude oil prices which might keep the central bank on hold for an extended period of time despite weakness on the global economic front."

India's statistics office said on Thursday the economy was expected to expand 8.7 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2008, slower than the previous year as higher interest rates dent consumer demand.

Markets showed little reaction to the data with the rupee at 39.55/56 per dollar, a touch lower than 39.54/55 ahead of the release of the data, and the 10-year federal bond unchanged at 7.46 percent.

The RBI raised interest rates five times in 10 months from June 2006 to tackle inflation and credit growth in Asia's third-largest economy and kept them steady last month saying inflation risks persisted.

RBI officials said on Thursday inflation had been contained but Reserve Bank of India Governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy said the "inherent logic" of January's rate decision still held ground.

A top government panel has said a slowdwon among developed economies may not have a major impact on India but pressure from high oil and food prices would make managing inflation a challenge in 2008/09.