AIRLINK 207.00 Decreased By ▼ -5.82 (-2.73%)
BOP 10.25 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
CNERGY 6.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-2.29%)
FCCL 33.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.18%)
FFL 16.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.79 (-4.48%)
FLYNG 22.41 Increased By ▲ 0.59 (2.7%)
HUBC 128.02 Decreased By ▼ -1.09 (-0.84%)
HUMNL 14.00 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.01%)
KEL 4.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.23%)
KOSM 6.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-5.48%)
MLCF 42.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.83 (-1.9%)
OGDC 214.10 Increased By ▲ 1.15 (0.54%)
PACE 7.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-1.66%)
PAEL 41.69 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (1.26%)
PIAHCLA 16.96 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.77%)
PIBTL 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-2.67%)
POWER 8.84 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.34%)
PPL 183.70 Increased By ▲ 0.67 (0.37%)
PRL 39.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-1.59%)
PTC 24.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.12%)
SEARL 98.35 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (0.35%)
SILK 1.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.99%)
SSGC 40.38 Decreased By ▼ -1.35 (-3.24%)
SYM 18.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.73 (-3.87%)
TELE 9.18 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2%)
TPLP 12.57 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (1.37%)
TRG 66.40 Increased By ▲ 0.72 (1.1%)
WAVESAPP 10.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.91%)
WTL 1.82 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (1.68%)
YOUW 4.07 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.99%)
BR100 11,819 Decreased By -47.3 (-0.4%)
BR30 35,728 Increased By 30.6 (0.09%)
KSE100 113,599 Decreased By -549.9 (-0.48%)
KSE30 35,751 Decreased By -201.2 (-0.56%)
Markets

Industrials, earnings hopes help European shares shrug off China data

LONDON: Strong industrials and expectations for a better earnings season helped European shares make hesitant gains
Published July 16, 2018

LONDON: Strong industrials and expectations for a better earnings season helped European shares make hesitant gains on Monday while data showing slowing economic growth from China kept a lid on the market's progress.

The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.2 percent, while Germany's DAX, which is heavily exposed to China, inched up 0.1 percent.

Basic resources and autos stocks were the worst-performing sectors as both rely on solid growth in China, whose economy grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter, cooling from 6.8 percent registered in the previous three quarters.

But investors shrugged off the slightly weaker data in order to focus on company earnings expected to support the market.

"Despite all the noise around China and Trump, you are going to get a real indication of macroeconomic health much more from company management," said Ian Williams, strategist at Peel Hunt.

Second-quarter earnings for the STOXX 600 are set to grow 8.1 percent year-on-year, an improvement on the first quarter.

"Earnings results will likely be strong, beating in both the U.S. and Europe by a good 4 to 5 percent margin," wrote JP Morgan strategist Mislav Matejka in a note.

"The guidances are the unknown, but we note that trade headlines might be losing some of the shock value as many investors now expect further bad news on this front."

Results drove some of Europe's biggest movers.

Deutsche Bank shares jumped, rising more than 5 percent to a six-week high after the German lender reported preliminary second-quarter results above consensus with a better than expected capital buffer.

Worries over the bank's solvency have cratered its shares, down 36 percent year-to-date. Its gains on Monday helped propel the banking sector index to the top, up 0.6 percent.

In other earnings-driven moves, fish farmer Marine Harvest  fell 2.6 percent after it reported lower second-quarter earnings and harvest volumes below its own guidance.

Drugmaker Indivior was top of the STOXX, surging 33 percent after a U.S. court blocked India's Dr. Reddy's Laboratories from selling generic versions of its bestselling opioid addiction treatment in the United States.

Elevator firm Kone drove gains among industrials with a 2.2 percent gain after a report that the Finnish company and Germany's Thyssenkrupp had held merger talks on their elevator operations. Thyssenkrupp traded flat.

Shares in French technology consultancy firm Altran  climbed 3.8 percent after Friday's 30 percent plunge on the discovery of forged orders at its recently acquired U.S. business Aricent.

Broker recommendations also moved some stocks.

French publisher Lagardere rose 2.1 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded it to overweight, while British software firm Micro Focus fell 4.4 percent after a Credit Suisse downgrade to underweight.

Finnish telecoms company Elisa fell 4.2 percent after JP Morgan cut it to neutral from overweight, saying competition remains volatile.

Copyright Reuters, 2018

Comments

Comments are closed.