Europe Mostly Higher As Auto, Oil Shares Gain

By Yomna Yasser On May 21, 2012

European stock markets attempted to push higher on Monday, with auto and oil shares providing support, as the market looked for a foothold after a lack of big developments from the weekend Group of Eight meeting.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index (XX:SXXP) +0.61% rose 0.4% to 239.85, following a 5.2% drop last week, which was its worst week since last September.

Over the weekend, global leaders affirmed their interest in keeping Greece in the euro zone, and encouraged leaders to pursue growth policies, but no new measures were announced Investors will now look to an informal European Union summit on Wednesday.

Spanish shares came under some pressure, after the government late Friday revised up its budget deficit to 8.9% from 8.5% for 2011, owing to higher debt reported by four regional governments.

The Spain IBEX 35 index (XX:IBEX) +0.49% fell 0.3% to 6,547.10, led by a 1.4% drop for Banco Santander (SAES:SAN) -0.50% STD +3.60% and a 1.5% fall for BBVA SA (ES:BBVA) -1.05% BBVA +4.86%

Yields on 10-year government bonds for Spain (ES:10YR_ESP) +0.39% rose 5 basis points to 6.32% and those for Italy (IT:10YR_ITA) +0.51% were up 2 basis points to 5.96%.

The FTSE MIB Italy index XX:FTSEMIB -0.12% fell 0.3% to 13,008.49.

Shares of Renault SA (FR:RNO) +5.30% shot up 5.5%. Analysts at UBS added Renault to the key call list. Fellow automaker Peugeot SA (FR:UG) +3.79% rose 5.6%. Those gains helped lift the French CAC 40 index (FR:PX1) +1.10% 0.8% to 3,032.53.

The German DAX 30 index (DX:DAX) +0.68% rose 0.4% to 6,293.75, with Merck KgaA (DE:MRK) -1.63% up 2.2% after UBS lifted the shares to buy from neutral.

Autos also rose in Germany, with Volkswagen AG (DE:VOW3) -3.43% up 1.6% and BMW AG (DE:BMW) -4.51% adding 1.5%.

Mining stocks were also rising across the board. In London, Anglo American PLC (UK:AAL) +1.63% rose 1.3% and BHP Billiton PLC (UK:BLT) +1.50% BHP -1.67% rose 1%. The FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX) +0.61% rose 0.4% to 5,291.29.

Shares of Man Group PLC (UK:EMG) +6.51% jumped 6% on news that the hedge fund and investment management firm will buy FRM Holdings for up to $82.8 million.