STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK Small Caps close nearly 2 pct higher
STOCKS NEWS Reuters Results diary
Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-time Equity News [E] [WEU/EQUITY]
17:05GMT 04Nov2008-UK Small Caps close nearly 2 pct higher
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The FTSE Small Cap index .FTSC closes nearly 2 percent higher, underperforming both blue chips .FTSE and mid caps .FTMC, which end up 4.4 percent and up 5.2 percent, respectively.
Social housing and care homes group Mears (MERG.L) closes 6.8 percent higher after a trading update points to full-year pretax profit in line with current market expectations, with Altium Securities reiterating its "buy" rating.
Prodesse Investment (PRD.L) closes 6.4 percent weaker as a fall in net assets per share overshadows a resilient third-quarter performance from the fund management group.
Reuters Messaging rm://tricia.wright.reuters.com@reuters.net
16:28GMT 04Nov2008-Hochtief gains after Commerzbank lowers stake
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Shares in German construction company Hochtief (HOTG.DE) rise 16 percent to top of Frankfurt's mid-cap index .MDAXI, after it says that Commerzbank's (CBKG.DE)stake in the company falls to 2.58 percent from originally more than 10 percent.
"Commerzbank's share overhang put a lot of pressure on Hochtief's share price," says Equinet analyst Ingbert Faust.
"This pressure has now been taken off."
M.M. Warburg analyst Ralf Dibbern says the news is good for Hochtief since there were concerns whether Commerzbank would be able to sell a stake given the market conditions.
For more double click on [ID:nWEA5677]
Reuters Messaging rm://christoph.steitz.reuters.com@reuters.net
16:15GMT 04Nov2008-Novo gains on setback for rival drug
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Shares in Denmark's Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) gain 7.8 percent after U.S. regulators reject data for an experimental version of diabetes drug Byetta from Amylin (AMLN.O), Alkermes (ALKS.O) and Eli Lilly (LLY.N), seen as a rival to Novo's liraglutide.
Deutsche Bank analysts say the setback for Byetta LAR is a modest positive for Novo, although any delay to the rival product might not be much greater than six months. For more double click on [ID:nWNAB7427]
Reuters Messaging rm://ben.hirschler.reuters.com@reuters.net
15:46GMT 04Nov2008-China Goldmines down on production fears
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Shares in AIM-listed China Goldmines Plc (CGM.L) fall 9.6 percent to 33 pence after it slashes its 2008 gold production forecast by 75 percent, blaming mining safety procedures, power cut-offs and outages.
Analysts at stockbrokers Brewin Dolphin say with the gold price faltering, the company must quickly resolve its production issues and attempt to reduce dilution and improve head grades.
"Otherwise, it may require additional funding for the latter part of its expansion project," they say. The broker has put its current year profits estimate under review as well as its "buy" recommendation. It says it is also likely to downgrade its 225 pence price target.
For more click on [ID:nBNG358717]; company statement [ID:nRnsD3369H]
Reuters Messaging rm://malcolm.locke.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.com
15:33GMT 04Nov2008-BMW up; traders cite short covering
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Shares in German carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) rise 10.2 percent to 22.65 euros and traders and analysts cite short covering as well as bargain hunting after the company's shares fell as much as 7.6 percent earlier in the day on weak third-quarter results.
"The only thing that I can suspect is that people, who have short positions, are covering them," an analyst, who asked not to be identified, says.
Another trader says the BMW numbers are not as bad as earlier thought.
"BMW might have burned 1.6 billion euros, but they put 1.5 billion euros in a pension fund," he says.
"Apparently, BMW has been coping better with the decrease in unit sales than Daimler (DAIGn.DE). Whoever may have been looking closer at the figures this morning has bought at a lower price."
For more double click on [ID:nL3253294]
Reuters Messaging rm://christoph.steitz.reuters.com@reuters.net
($1=.7844 Euro)
15:08GMT 04Nov2008-BNP, Total, Arcelor Mittal to feature on Wed
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European companies:
BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA)
Commerzbank AG (CBKG.DE)
Total (TOTF.PA)
Arcelor Mittal (ISPA.AS)
Hannover Re AG (HNRGn.DE)
Carlsberg (CARLb.CO)
William Demant Hldg (WDH.CO)
Sampo (SAMAS.HE)
WINCOR NIXDORF (WING.DE)
HeidelbergCement AG (HEIG.DE)
Rheinmetall AG (RHMG.DE)
Coca-Cola Hellenic (HLBr.AT)
Royal Vopak N.V. Trade (VOPA.AS)
Energias de Portugal, S.A. (EDP.LS)
Endesa, S.A. (ELE.MC)
Indra Sistemas, S.A. (IDR.MC)
Ciba Specialty Chemicals CIBN.VX
Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX)
FirstGroup (FGP.L)
Liberty Int'l (LII.L)
U.S. companies:
Cisco Systems (CSCO.O)
Time Warner Inc. (TWX)
Sara Lee (SLE)
Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL)
Avalonbay Communities (AVB)
CenterPoint Energy (CNP)
CMS Energy Corp. (CMS)
Cognizant Tech. Solutions (CTSH.O)
Devon Energy Corporation (DVN)
MBIA Inc. (MBI)
Transocean Inc. (RIG)
Whole Foods Market (WFMI.O)
Macro (GMT):
0845 IT Mark Svcs PMI
0855 DE Mark Svcs PMI
0900 EZ Mark Svcs PMI
0930 GB Ind Prod
1200 US MBA Purchase
1230 US Layoffs
1315 US ADP Employment
1500 US Non-mfg
Reuters Messaging rm://atul.prakash.reuters.com@reuters.net
