1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets gained ground, led by Unilever Nokia.
European stock markets ended higher on Thursday, led by gains in the shares of Unilever and Nokia. Financial services stocks also contributed to the upward mood after several leading banks including Credit Suisse reported strong profit growth. Gains on Wall Street and unchanged interest rates gave additional boost to European stocks. The BoE kept the interest rates unchanged at 5.75% and the ECB left interest rates on hold at 4%. Both Germany and the U.K closed up 0.8%, while France advanced 0.5%.
Nokia Corp surged 8.2% after the mobile phones maker posted robust Q2 profit and its highest operating margin in three years. Shares of financial services company Credit Suisse Group rose 1.9% after it reported Q2 profit increase of 48% on 45% higher revenue
In Frankfurt Fresenius Medical Care rose 3.9% after the company posted a better-than-expectged profit increase and raised its 2007 forecast. Deutsche Telekom AG and Deutsche Bank AG were also among notable gainers, rising 2.7% and 1.7%, respectively.
In Paris the banking sector posted gains, with shares of Societe Generale rising 4.3% after it reported Q2 profit growth of 33% on 15% higher revenue.. However, NYSE Euronext shares slipped 0.7% after the company said Q2 net income more than doubled to $161 million. Outside the sector, France Telecom shares gained 3% after reporting a 41% profit rise
In London U.K. bank Barclays rose 1.3% after it said its first-half net profit rose 14% as growth from its investment banking operations offset a decline in profit at its credit card unit. Among other movers, pub operator Mitchells & Butler dropped 4.7% after it revealed that a plan to separate out its property assets from its operating divisions has been put on hold due to uncertainties in the credit market. Food giant Unilever, climbed 4.3% after it forecast 2007 sales at the top end of its 3% to 5% view.
11:30AM Market averages traded higher, lifted by earnings and deal news. Fiserv agreed to acquire Checkfree.
U.S. market averages kept trading higher, lifted by strong earnings from Nokia ((NOK), Starbucks (
SBUX: chart), Walt Disney (
DIS: chart). Among other earnings releases, drug store company CVS Caremark (
CVS: chart) rose 2.3% after it said its Q2 profit and revenue doubled. The company earned 47 cents per share, compared with 40 cents per share last year, beating estimates. Automotive parts supplier Lear Corp.(
LEA: chart), rose nearly 4% after it reported earnings of $1.58 per share versus a loss of 10 cents per share a year ago, exceeding expectations of 91 cents.
A takeover deal also gave a boost to the market sentiment. Fiserv Inc. (
FSV: chart), a provider of information management systems and services, agreed to buy online banking company CheckFree Corp. (
CKFR: chart) for $4.4 billion in cash. CheckFree's shares surged 23%. Under the terms of the deal, Fiserve is offering $48 for each CheckFree share, a 30% premium over their closing price of $36.83 on Wednesday.
In other corporate news, Hewlett-Packard (
HPQ: chart) rose 3.3% after Bank of America started coverage of the firm with a buy rating. BoA also initiated coverage of IBM (
IBM: chart), sending it up 1.5%, Dell (
DELL: chart), rising 1.7% and Apple (
AAPL: chart), up 0.5%.
By sector, healthcare, telecommunication and wireless stocks posted modest gains, while oil services and oil stocks traded in negative territory, despite the rising crude oil price. In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 64.95, or 0.49%, to 13,427.32.The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.88, or 0.33%, to 1,470.69, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 17.51, or 0.69%, to 2,571.38. Bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.77% from 4.79% late Wednesday.
11:00AM New York, 8:30PM Mumabi – Sensex in India stabilized after a week of volatility in the Asian markets.
Sensex closed 49.93 or 0.33% 14,985.70 after a week of volatility and instability largely injected by the credit worries in the U.S. market. In the broader market 1,390 stocks advanced, 1,275 declined, and 57 companies remained unchanged. Daily turnover on the BSE fell to 4,419 crore rupees from 6,656 crore rupees.
June trade deficit jumped to $7.33 billion on 37% rise in imports to $19.2 billion and export growth of 14% to $11.87 billion.
Software services exporters fell for the third day in a row on rupee strength. Industry leader TCS fell 1.3% to 1,100 and Infosys dropped with similar losses to 1,904 rupees. Wipro declined 2.7% to 462.50 rupees and Satyam Computer decreased 1.5% to 462 rupees.
Auto stocks fell after industry reported July sales. Mahindra & Mahindra lost 3% to 673 rupees. The company unit sales gained 46% to 19,163. Maruti Udyog increased 1.7% to 835 rupees after reporting unit sales growth 25% to 57,909. Bajaj Auto edged a fraction lower on July sales drop of 7% to 185,890 and Hero Honda unit sales declined 1.3% to 201,191.
Tata Motors declined 2.2% to 652 rupees after July sales declined 6.5% to 42,098 from a year ago. The commercial vehicles sales fell 4% to 20,705 units and exports declined 17% to 4,382 units.
State Bank of India jumped 3.0% to 1,594 rupees on the news report in local media that the company is planning to separate its asset management and life insurance division. The separate company may be listed on the exchange with a potential market cap of at least 20,000 crore rupees or $5 billion.
