Europe midday: Stocks mostly up as investors mull Unilever, eye eurozone Greece meeting
European equity markets were mostly up on Monday, with Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever among the biggest fallers, while trading volumes were lighter as US markets will be closed for Presidents Day.
Investors are also eyeing a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels later in the day as they aim to reach a deal on Greece’s stalled €86bn bailout so it does not sour upcoming elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany and possibly, Italy.
At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.1% to 370.60 and Germany’s DAX rose 0.51% to 11,817.56 but France’s CAC 40 was flat at 4,866.36.
Meanwhile, oil prices advanced, with Brent crude up 0.69% to $56.20 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate 0.53% firmer at $54.07.
Analysts at Monex Europe said: “The euro fought its way back from the very bottom of its recent trading range against dollar last week, but took another turn for the worse on Friday as it became clear the eurozone would probably miss today’s soft deadline for a solution to the still ongoing Greek debt situation.
"European Finance Ministers will meet in Brussels today, but despite some reports of movement from the International Monetary Fund on key positions on Friday, the IMF said its position on insisting on debt sustainability measures for Greece had not changed. If a deal is not reached today, the crisis is likely to continue into this year’s busy European election season.”
The euro was flat against the dollar to 1.0619.
In corporate news, Unilever plunged 7.33% as US rival Kraft Heinz ditched its plans to take over the Marmite owner, just two days after it emerged that the London-listed consumer goods firm had rejected a $143bn offer.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “There had been widespread speculation that this bid may well have turned out to be a rather protracted affair given some of the politics involved. Kraft’s quick about turn appears to have drawn a line under that, over concerns that any public battle could have the potential to turn increasingly bitter.”
On the upside, Royal Bank of Scotland gained 6.5% after saying it will abandon plans to sell its Williams & Glyn business and instead provide funds to help challenger banks, if a Treasury proposal is accepted by the European Commission.
Aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce advanced 5.05% after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’, lifting the price target to 1,030p from 743p and adding the stock to its ‘Conviction’ list, saying the company has the potential to substantially increase free cash flow between now and 2020.
Steinhoff International rose 6.42% after the Netherlands-listed furniture maker called off talks for a $30bn merger with Shoprite, South Africa’s biggest supermarket chain.
On the data front, German producer price inflation rose to 2.4% in January, from 1% last year and more than the 2% expected. Producer prices increased 0.7% in January from 0.4% in December and ahead of the 0.3% forecast.
The annual producer price index rose at its highest rate since March 2012 when it rose 2.6%.
Eurozone consumer confidence data will be released at 1500 GMT.