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Bourses end mixed
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August 27, 1999: 1:11 p.m. ET
London caps solid week lower; Frankfurt driven up by BMW, Paris gets retail lift
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LONDON (CNNfn) - London shares slumped to a slightly lower close Friday, reversing early gains as investors backed off big bets ahead of a long holiday weekend in Britain. Frankfurt climbed more than half a percent as carmaker BMW led the blue-chip charge. Paris and Zurich notched up fractional gains.
London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid and Milan all rose more than 3 percent for the week. Belgium, the continental outperformer, jumped 4.1 percent from last Friday's close.
Cryptic comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan -- who cautioned central bankers to pay heed to asset prices in setting monetary policy -- triggered a downturn on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average was off 35 points at the London close.
After treading water through much of the session, London's FTSE 100 ended 0.14 percent lower at 6,375.2, a loss of 8.7 points as traders eased off the blistering pace that pulled the blue chip gauge up 266 points, or 4.3 percent, in the previous five sessions.
Trading remained in a narrow range Friday in London; volume was 749 million shares. For the week since last Friday's close, the FTSE 100 was up 3.1 percent, or 194.4 points. Much of the gain was seen as generated by euphoria following the Federal Reserve's earlier decision to raise interest rates only a quarter of a percentage point and to adopt a neutral bias on further monetary tightening.
Paris's CAC 40 finished higher for the sixth straight session, rising 0.29 percent, or 13.34 points, to close at 4,642.71, driven by glittering retail stocks. But some traders saw a consolidation phase setting in as investors looked ahead to U.S. economic data due out next week. The benchmark index was up 3.82 percent, or 170.71 points, for the week.
Frankfurt blue chips got a sharp boost from a rally in BMW (FBMW) after Salomon Brothers Smith Barney said it had raised its price target on the carmaker without specifying a number. The electronic Xetra Dax climbed 0.58 percent to close at 5,420.36. BMW shares leapt 3.7 percent to 29.85 euros. The Dax was up 3.2 percent for the week.
Zurich's SMI advanced 0.36 percent to 7,167.7, scraping back from an early dip as index heavyweight Novartis announced a major share buyback program, valued at around 4 billion Swiss francs ($2.6 billion). The index advanced 1.6 percent for the week. Novartis shares slipped despite the buyback plan, easing 10 Swiss francs to 2,225 francs.
The FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of pan-European shares, finished virtually unchanged at 1,329.16, reflecting the trends in profit-taking.
Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed International (REED) spearheaded the gainers in London, racing up 6.79 percent to 413 pence, amid perceptions that the stock was undervalued.
Retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS) trailed just behind, gaining 6.14 percent to 416 pence, as it prepared to unveil its autumn clothing range.
The shift out of cyclical stocks, however, hit engineering group Invensys (ISYS), which slid 4.16 percent, making it the leading FTSE 100 decliner. British Aerospace (BA) suffered the second most serious stumble, falling 3.67 percent on profit taking.
But aerospace engine maker Rolls-Royce (RR) reversed losses from Thursday's session, climbing 3.63 percent.
In Frankfurt, Lufthansa (FLHA) shed 1.7 percent amid selling pressure. Auto stocks were the best performers, with BMW (FBMW) leading the pack with a 3.7 percent gain after the broker's upgrade. Volkswagen (FVOW) added 2.2 percent and MAN advanced 2.1 percent amid talk about a tie-up involving Swedish truck maker Scania.
Paris was again buoyed by the strong performance of retail stocks. Promodes (PPE) led the CAC 40 charge, galloping up 6.71 percent, while Carrefour (PCA) added 2.86 percent and Casino (PCO) gained 2.39 percent.
In Zurich, Swisscom slipped 2.06 percent despite beating expectations with a 6 percent rise in net profit for the first six months to 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($783 million). Technology company Sulzer rose 2.56 percent, adding to hefty gains Thursday when the group said it planned to cut 2,000 jobs by the end of 2001.
-- from staff and wire reports
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