Equities flat as BMW drives car makers lower

Eurostoxx 50: 2,267.96 (+13.96) Frankfurt DAX: 5,913.36 (–19.78) Paris CAC: 3,064.90 (+15.77)EUROPEAN STOCKS ended unchanged yesterday, after swinging between gains and losses, as Mario Monti became Italy's prime minister amid concern the sovereign-debt crisis is hurting the global economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index earlier climbed 1.2 per cent and dropped 0.7 per cent as the European Central Bank was said to buy Italian and Spanish bonds and the Bank of England warned that failure to tackle the debt crisis could affect economic growth.

“The market is reacting very strongly to any news,” said Guillaume Duchesne, an equity strategist at BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg.

The benchmark measure has declined 19 per cent from this year’s high in February as European Union policy makers struggle to contain a crisis that has Greece on the edge of a default and the region’s highly indebted nations grappling with record bond yields.

“Market participants do not want to give up hope on a resolution of the EU crisis as the EU remains focused on finding means to expand its bailout fund,” said Stephane Ekolo, chief European strategist at Market Securities in London.

Infineon dropped 3 per cent to €6.26. The company expects sales in 2012 to decline by a “mid-single digit percentage” compared with 2011 as customers hold off on making orders.

BMW and Daimler, the world’s biggest makers of luxury cars, lost 3.2 per cent to €55.71 and 0.9 per cent to €32.23, respectively.

Car makers posted the worst performance among the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600 yesterday, losing 1.4 per cent.

Vivendi advanced 5.6 per cent to €16.34. The owner of the world’s largest video-game and music companies reported third-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

Michael Page International, a recruiter that operates across 32 countries, advanced 5.8 per cent to 385.4p.

Randstad, a provider of temporary employees, rose 4.3 per cent to €23.05.

Adecco, a supplier of temporary workers, climbed 3.2 per cent to 38.59 Swiss francs.

Home Retail, which owns the Argos catalogue stores, plunged 7.5 per cent to 72.7p. – (Bloomberg)