Europe Markets: Europe stocks choppy, Barclays off, BG Group up
Europe Markets: Europe stocks choppy, Barclays off, BG Group up
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
The map of Europe is featured on the face of a two-euro coin.
MADRID (MarketWatch) — European stock markets straddled the flat line in thin trading on Friday, with gains for Vestas Wind Systems AS and BG Group PLC, as what few investors were left said goodbye to a turbulent year for markets.
On the last day of the trading year, the Stoxx Europe 600 index
/quotes/zigman/2380150 XX:SXXP
+0.25%
rose 0.1% to 242.79. The index was set to log a 12% loss for the year, according to FactSet Research.
Investors were failing to key on the prior session’s higher close — the Stoxx Europe 600 index finished up nearly 1% — inspired by data from an Italian bond auction that investors viewed as passable.
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WSJ’s Tom Fowler reports the U.S. is preparing federal charges against BP related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Charges could include providing false information on a federal documents. AP Photo.
“The coming 12 months will be about finding the trade that is not overly crowded and being intelligent in not holding any position for too long,” said Stephen Pope, managing partner at Spotlight Ideas, in emailed comments.
“Any equity that relies on a single developed-market polarity for revenue generation is not an investment vehicle to follow. If one is to make any money from equities in the new year, it has to be from large caps that draw upon many diverse markets for sales generation,” said Pope.
Vestas
/quotes/zigman/259406 DE:VWS
+4.56%
was a top gainer for the Stoxx, up 4.4% after the wind turbine maker received an order for 23 wind turbines from a wind power park in Sweden.
/quotes/zigman/176370
BCP
0.14,
+0.0050,
+3.82%
Shares of Banco Comercial Portugues SA
/quotes/zigman/176370 PT:BCP
+3.82%
jumped 4.6%. Media reports have been circulating over the past few days that Portuguese and Chinese authorities have discussed the possibility of investment by a Chinese bank in BCP..
A spokesman from BCP could not immediately be reached for comment, but the firm has previously declined comment.
Thinning out trade even further for Friday, U.K. markets will close at midday.
The FTSE 100 index
/quotes/zigman/3173262 UK:UKX
-0.34%
, which has lost nearly 6% this year, fell 0.5% to 5,5543.03. BG Group
/quotes/zigman/249967 UK:BG
+0.33%
rose 0.3% after saying that one of its projects in Brazil was getting close to production.
There was plenty of downside pressure in London, with shares of Royal Dutch Shell PLC
/quotes/zigman/379078/quotes/nls/rds.a RDS.A
+1.25%
/quotes/zigman/359915 UK:RDSA
-0.82%
down 1.3% and BP PLC
/quotes/zigman/247026/quotes/nls/bp BP
+0.64%
/quotes/zigman/210014 UK:BP
-0.66%
off 0.9% amid choppy prices for crude oil.
Insurers and utilities also stumbled, with Old Mutual PLC
/quotes/zigman/203487 UK:OML
-2.18%
down 2.2% and Admiral Group PLC
/quotes/zigman/356643 UK:ADM
-1.76%
off 1.8%. Utilities such as Severn Trent PLC
/quotes/zigman/432401 UK:SVT
-0.87%
and National Grid PLC
/quotes/zigman/381306 UK:NG
-1.12%
fell over 1% each.
The end of a turbulent year
Many investors will likely be glad to see the back of 2011, which has been a turbulent year for markets, owing to the sovereign-debt crisis.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Friday vowed that European leaders will get a grip on the crisis by the end of 2012, and he ruled out the breakup of the euro.
“I think that in the next 12 months we will have avoided the danger of contagion and will have stabilized the euro zone,” Schaeuble said in an interview published by the newspaper Handelsblatt.
Italian bonds remained under some pressure on Friday, with the yield on 10-year government debt
/quotes/zigman/4869096 IT:10YR_ITA
-0.02%
up 14 basis points to 7.02%. Spanish bond yields
/quotes/zigman/4869131 ES:10YR_ESP
-1.34%
edged down 6 basis points to 5.07%.
Media reports said that to help get Spain’s budget difficulties under control, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will announce billions in spending cuts after meeting with his cabinet. Spanish stocks were flat, in keeping with the rest of European bourse activity.
The French CAC 40 index
/quotes/zigman/3173214 FR:PX1
+0.23%
and German DAX 30 index
/quotes/zigman/2380246 DX:DAX
+0.24%
skirted the flat line at 3,132.70 and 5,854.01, respectively. The CAC is set to log an 18% loss for the year, while the DAX is set to fall 15%.
GDF Suez SA
/quotes/zigman/383313 FR:GSZ
-1.53%
fell 1.7% in Paris and Societe Generale
/quotes/zigman/167380 FR:GLE
-0.57%
was down 0.5%. Shares of AXA SA
/quotes/zigman/163170 FR:CS
+1.55%
rose 1%.
In Frankfurt, shares of Deutsche Bank AG
/quotes/zigman/207036 DE:DBK
-0.77%
fell 0.8%, while Deutsche Post AG
/quotes/zigman/266127 DE:DPW
+0.60%
rose 1.2%.
U.S. stock futures were flat, with no economic events scheduled for release on Friday. Faring far better than battered European markets, the Dow industrials
/quotes/zigman/627449 DJIA
+1.12%
are set to end the year up around 6%, while the S&P 500 index
+1.07%
was holding a slim gain on 2011.
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Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.