European shares snapped a three-day losing streak on Monday, boosted by defensive stocks such as drugmakers and commodities tracking crude and metal prices higher. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed up 0.7 percent at 979.33 points in choppy trade, having been as high as 982.02 points and as low as 964.22 earlier.
"Markets are in a tug of war. There is a chance of stabilisation in the short-term," said Gerhard Schwarz, head of global equity strategy at UniCredit in Munich. Over the weekend, officials from the European members of the Group of Seven industrialised countries vowed to hold Greece to its cost-cutting programme. But investors were waiting for European leaders to take further steps to address the region's debt crisis.
Defensive stocks were in favour. Drugmakers Sanofi Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca rose 1.1 to 2.5 percent, while food producer Nestle gained 2.2 percent. Miners rose with the rebound in metal prices from last week's lows. Xstrata was 3.6 percent higher after it reinstated dividends, citing an encouraging outlook for commodities demand in the medium term.
Energy stocks were in demand, spurred on by a 1 percent gain in crude. BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell were up 0.5 to 1.9 percent. Banks rebounded from earlier falls. UBS, Banco Santander, Dexia and Credit Agricole were 1.9 to 4.7 percent higher.
However, Greek banks National Bank of Greek, Alpha Bank and Bank of Piraeus lost 5.4 to 8.5 percent. Insurers were on the downside on concerns over the sector's exposure to sovereign debt. Aviva, Legal & General and Swiss Life slipped 2.6 to 3.5 percent. SAP fell 2.5 percent after the abrupt resignation of Chief Executive Leo Apotheker, as the market sought direction on where the world's largest business software company is headed. Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index gained 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX was 0.9 percent higher and France's CAC 40 rose 1.2 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.