STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK defensives down on soft U.S. outlook
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16:00GMT 04Feb2009-UK defensives down on soft U.S. outlook
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Shares in defensive UK stocks fall, bucking the market trend as the FTSE 100 makes a second day of gains, signalling a cautious easing of risk aversion and as results from U.S. peers give investors the jitters.
Consumer goods group Unilever (ULVR.L), due to report its full-year results on Thursday, is the biggest non ex-dividend FTSE 100 faller, losing 3.8 percent after U.S. food maker Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N) announces fourth-quarter profit of $163 million, down from $585 million a year earlier.
"It is quite a big negative for a lot of European food names," said a trader in London. "Their (Kraft's) 2009 guidance was weak as well and that is hitting the sector, particularly Unilever."
Cigarette makers Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L) and British American Tobacco (BATS.L) are also hit by U.S. results, falling 3.5 percent and 3.6 percent respectively after U.S. tobacco firm Philip Morris International Inc (PM.N) disappoints investors with a below forecast profit outlook for 2009.
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15:38GMT 04Feb2009-Q-Cells gains; Goldman upgrades to "neutral"
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Shares in German solar cell producer Q-Cells (QCEG.DE) rise 5.1 percent in Frankfurt's technology index .TECDAX, after Goldman Sachs upgrades the stock to "neutral" from "sell" and removes it from its "Conviction Sell List", citing "a period of underperformance".
"We remain concerned about Q-Cells relative to key peers (like SolarWorld (SWVG.DE)), but believe the current valuation is fair and now see limited downside," Goldman Sachs says in a note.
Reuters Messaging rm://christoph.steitz.reuters.com@reuters.net Continued...
