European shares edge up, ignoring emerging-market losses
Reuters
Published Aug 15, 2018 04:37AM ET
European shares edge up, ignoring emerging-market losses
By Julien Ponthus
LONDON (Reuters) - European shares edged up on Wednesday, ignoring heavy losses overnight on emerging markets, as the Turkish currency crisis seemed to ease and the lira recovered from record lows.
At 0805 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 (STOXX) was up 0.1 percent with most major indexes trading higher.
"Risk-on sentiment returned and traders were once again in the mood for buying overnight", said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.
Corporate earnings triggered some share price moves: Danish wind turbine maker Vestas (CO:VWS) jumped 7.4 percent after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter operating profits and launching a 200 million-euro ($226.7 million) share buy-back.
"We expect a positive reaction given the solid order intake, and sharp margin beat along with stable pricing", UBS analysts wrote ahead of the open as they maintained their "buy" rating on the stock.
Also in Denmark, audio maker (CO:WDH) William Demant fell 8.8 percent after it published a trading update that Bernstein analysts said lifted its guidance "perhaps less than consensus would have hoped for".
In the UK, Admiral (L:ADML) rose to the top of the FTSE 100 (FTSE), gaining 4.1 percent, after posting a 9 percent rise in first-half pre-tax profit, helped by demand for its insurance products.
Hikma Pharma (L:HIK) posted the best performance of mid-sized listed firms, up 8.5 percent, after raising its outlook.
Brokers' recommendations also affected early trading. Amundi rose 3.5 percent after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded the French asset manager to "overweight".
Atlantia (MI:ATL), which owns Autostrade per l'Italia, was down 5.4 percent after Italy's transport minister called for senior managers to resign. The company operated the bridge that collapsed in the port city of Genoa.
Shares in Air France-KLM (PA:AIRF) were up 1.4 percent after reports its board was likely to appoint Air Canada's AC.TO chief operating officer, Benjamin Smith, as its new boss.
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Written By: Reuters
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