AL: Commodity-Related Stocks Lead European Shares Higher
Mayur Pahilajani - AHN News Writer
London, United Kingdom (AHN) - European markets were back on the gaining track on early Tuesday as commodity-related stocks provided boost to the stocks across the region.
Investors reacted positively to the news that Friends Provident has accepted to be acquired by Clive Cowdery's Resolution.
Shares of the company advanced in London by 2.5 percent after the 177-year-old U.K. life insurer agreed to a takeover offer of a 1.86 billion-pound ($3.06 billion).
Resolution added that the acquisitions bid reflects a premium of 5.9 percent to Friends share price at the close of the previous session and a 31.5 percent premium to its stock price in early July.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 moved higher by 0.02 percent to 229.56 points on Tuesday at 11:23 a.m. GMT, slightly extending the year-to-year losses to 21.66 percent from the period between 2008 to 2009.
At 9:48 a.m., in early morning trade session, London's FTSE 100 index gained by 14.04 points or 0.30 percent at 4,736.24 points. Frankfurt's DAX moved up by 20.31 points 0.37 percent at 5,438.43 points.
At the same time, the CAC 40 in Paris traded down by 18.41 points or 0.53 percent at 3,522.95 points.
In the mining sector, shares of BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, moved higher by 1.5 percent and Rio Tinto Group, the third largest miner, moved up by 1.3 percent in London trading.
Metals including copper, lead and nickel moved higher on London Metal Exchange adding to the previous sessions' rally on potential rise in demand from China.
Among the utilities, International Power Plc, the largest U.K.-based electricity producer, jumped by 5.7 percent on reports that the firm said first-half net income soared by almost 50 times.
Adecco was moving down by 4.8 percent after the Swiss staffing firm said it swung to a second-quarter net loss of 147 million euros, compared to a profit of 212 million euros in the year earlier period.
