European shares retreat from 13-month closing high
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - European shares retreated from a 13-month closing high on Tuesday and snapped a four-day winning run, with commodity stocks leading the losers as investors pocketed gains in raw material prices.
UBS (UBSN.VX), however, advanced 1.7 percent. Its Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel said he was targeting annual pretax profit of 15 billion Swiss francs ($14.87 billion) as he aimed to put the subprime crisis and a U.S. tax row behind the bank and wi 1847616097
Within the banking sector, HSBC (HSBA.L), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX), Barclays (BARC.L) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) were off 0.1-1.1 percent.
By 0808 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,032.95 points, after rising 1.5 percent on Monday to hit a 13-month closing high.
The index has rallied 60 percent since hitting a floor in early March, and is up 24 percent so far this year.
Oil majors BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS) and Total (TOTF.PA) were down 0.5-1 percent after crude prices CLc1 slipped ahead of the release of weekly inventories report. Miners fell after metal prices eased off from their highs. Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Anglo American (AAL.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Vedanta Resources (VED.L) and Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) lost 0.3-0.8 percent.
"Will we continue with the momentum at the higher level? Absolutely. There is no alternative asset class to go to at current time," said Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday repeated the Fed's pledge to keep interest rates exceptionally low for "an extended period", saying tight credit and a weak job market would weigh on the economy's recovery.
"Bonds can continue to carry on having a nice run because they are at levels sort of being supported by accommodation of lower interest rates," Pope said, but adding that equities would offer better returns compared with short-dated government bonds.
Accor (ACCP.PA) rose 3.7 percent. The French hotel group said its board would decide by the end of the year on whether to split up its two main businesses -- hotels and pre-paid services like hotel vouchers and bank cards. (Reporting by Dominic Lau)
