Shares lower on fragile investor sentiment

Eurostoxx 50: 3,012.70 (+5.89) Frankfurt DAX: 7,183.67 (–0.60) Paris CAC: 4,066.53 (–6.09):MOST EUROPEAN stocks fell yesterday, as companies from Electrolux to Scania and Roche announced results that disappointed investors.

Today’s earnings reports are “in-line with expectations or slightly negative”, said Ricciardo Ricciardelli, a fund manager at Unifortune Asset Management SGR SpA in London.

“Investors wait for confirmation of the recovery of the US labour market. Conviction was still low in January and the market’s rally surprised the majority of managers,” he said.

Electrolux plummeted 8 per cent to 167.4 kronor, helping send Sweden’s benchmark OMX Stockholm 30 Index down 1.8 per cent, the lowest in two months.

Roche dropped 2 per cent to 141.6 Swiss francs as the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs said second-half net income slid 30 per cent to 3.2 billion francs ($3.4 billion), missing the average analyst estimate of 3.78 billion francs.

Fortum Oyj slipped for the first time this week, falling 3.3 per cent to €22.33. Finland’s biggest utility reported fourth-quarter net income of €231 million, missing the €305 million mean estimate of eight analysts.

Atlas Copco dropped 4 per cent to 147.3 kronor as the biggest maker of air compressors reported fourth-quarter profit that fell short of analysts’ estimates.

Renewable Energy climbed 12 per cent to 21.67 kroner, the biggest gain since June. The Norwegian renewable energy company said its fourth-quarter results were “significantly” above market estimates on one-time items.

Imperial Tobacco advanced 5.9 per cent to 1,899p. The maker of Davidoff cigarettes said it plans to increase the dividend payout ratio to 50 per cent of adjusted earnings in the current financial year from about 47 per cent.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto led a gauge for European basic-resources stocks higher, gaining 2.6 per cent to 2.494p and 2.8 per cent to 4,463.5p, respectively.

Credit Suisse said that the companies can return 30 per cent and 41 per cent respectively of their market capitalizations through dividends and buybacks.

Eurasian Natural Resources surged 3.6 per cent to 1,074p.

Aurubis added 3.4 per cent to €40.63. – (Bloomberg)