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FTSE Eurofirst 300 extends long-term highs

14/03/2006 13:18
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 extended its 4½ year highs on Tuesday thanks to strength in the oil and automobile sectors.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 01. per cent to 1,365.63 with the FTSE 100 in London 0.4 per cent ahead at 5,974.8. However, the Xetra Dax was down 0.2 per cent to 5,841.92 and the CAC-40 0.1 per cent lower at 5,104.99.

The Eurofirst 300 closed on Monday 0.7 per cent firmer at a fresh 4-1/2 year high of 1,364 points as takeover activity swept the market.

Nymex West Texas Intermediate rallied more than 3 per cent to above $62 a barrel on Monday on worries about US fuel supplies and Iran’s ongoing dispute with the West. It slipped 24 cents to $61.53 in electronic trade this morning.

ENI and BP led the sector gains up 0.6 per cent to €23.59 and 0.6 per cent to 653.7p.

OMV, the Austrian oil company, saw its fourth-quarter net profit fall 13 per cent to €237m hit by lower refining margins. The stock dropped 1.9 per cent to €51.79.

Shares on Wall Street advanced on Monday amid a fresh wave of merger and acquisition activity. The S&P 500 closed 0.2 per cent higher at 1,284.13 while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent to 2,267.03. However, the narrower Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 11,076.02. See more on Monday's Wall Street

Back in Europe, Euronext, the operator of the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon bourses’ annual net profits rose by less than expected. But probably of more interest was that it said it planned to play a major role in global markets consolidation and would talk with Deutsche Borse. Nasdaq’s $4.2bn offer for the London Stock Exchange has concentrated the pair’s minds on the competition implications. Deutsche Borse rose 2.2 per cent to €114.38 but Euronext fell 1.4 per cent to €60.80. See more on Euronext results

BMW rose 3 per cent to €41.91 after UBS upgraded the German luxury car maker from “neutral” to “buy” with a raised price target of €49, up from €37. Peugeot added 1.9 per cent to €48.95 and Porsche rose 1.3 per cent to €709.30.

Telekom Austria‘s fourth-quarter core earnings rose 20 per cent to €382.1m, boosted by a Bulgarian acquisition and higher mobile revenues, and it proposed to more than double its dividend. The stock rose 0.4 per cent to €19.67.

Munich Re, the German reinsurer, beat expectations more than quadrupling its fourth quarter net profit on strong investment gains from asset sales to €1.339bn. Munich Re said in December it expected to hit its 12 per cent return on equity goal for 2005 despite heavy damage claims from last year’s hurricane season. It plans to raise its dividend to €3.10 from €2.00 for 2004. Munich Re eased 0.1 per cent to €114.36.

AGF climbed 2.9 per cent to €89.00 after the French insurer’s price target was raised from €72 to €84 following an 18 per cent increase in 2005 net profit to €1.6bn. The company said late on Monday it was on track for profitable growth in 2006 thanks to buoyant market conditions.

Deutsche Post fell 5.2 per cent to €21.54 after the German mail and logistics group warned its 2006 operating profit would be flat compared with last year at at least €3.7bn despite forecasting a sales rise of more than a third. See more on Deutsche Post numbers

Schering fell 1.8 per cent to €83.08 after Equinet downgraded the Berlin-based drug group from “accumulate” to “hold”. But the broker raised its price target from €63 to €85. Merck, the German drug and chemicals maker, made an unsolicited €77 a share for Schering. Equinet cut its Merck price target from €85 to €80. Merck dropped 3.6 per cent to €77.08.

UCB, the Belgian biotechnology company, fell 3.7 per cent to €39.81 after broadly in line net profits of €270m. Sales rose 10 per cent thanks to its blockbuster drugs, but profit growth will be held back by increased research and development spending. KBC cut UCB’s target price from €46 to €42.