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Europe hits a roadblock
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December 8, 1998: 1:12 p.m. ET
Bourses refuse to move in one direction or the other
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LONDON (CNNfn) - European markets trod water for the second consecutive day Tuesday, unable, or unwilling, to budge either up or down.
A lackluster session in Asia overnight gave little early impetus, and by the end of the afternoon session in Europe, Wall Street was only adding to the sleepy mood.
In London the FTSE 100 eked out a 39 point gain, a rise of 0.7 percent, to close at 5,615.7.
Investors desperate for any news jumped on the coat-tails of the slight upswing in the oil price. That brought buyers out of the woodwork for oil majors such as Shell (SHEL), which jumped more than 4 percent to 346 pence, and British Petroleum (BP.), which crept up 3 percent to 875 pence.
Hopes of lower interest rates once the Bank of England meets Wednesday and Thursday have already been discounted, although there was some talk of a 100 basis point reduction, which would be a surprise.
Colt Telecom (CTM) reached a new high on vague bid hopes. The shares ended the day up 5 percent at 840 pence.
A dull day in Paris was noticeable for the way investors turned their backs on the banking sector. BNP (PBNP) dipped 3 percent to 435 francs. CCF (PCCF) slipped more than 2 percent to 478 francs.
In Paris the CAC 40 was a mere 5.8 points lower at 3,765.41.
In Frankfurt the main casualty from a timid day's trading was insurance giant Allianz (FALV). Fears of a stock overhang helped the shares to close more than 3 percent lower at 558 marks.
Conglomerate Preussag (FPRS) gained 20 marks to 660 marks.
Frankfurt's Xetra DAX eased just 12.98 points to finish at 4,7008.19.
Switzerland's SMI eased 48.6 points, 0.7 percent, to 6,810.4. Novartis shares provided the only bright note. The pharmaceuticals group rose 20 francs to close at 2,595 francs.
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