By Sarah Jones
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- European and Asian stocks advanced, pushing the MSCI World Index higher for a third day, as Ireland detailed plans to purge banks of toxic assets and Exane BNP Paribas recommended building-material and construction shares.
Bank of Ireland Plc and Allied Irish Banks Plc surged more than 9 percent after the government announced a proposal to spend 54 billion euros ($80 billion) buying real-estate loans. Cie. de Saint-Gobain SA, Europe’s biggest building-materials supplier, jumped 3.7 percent as Exane upgraded the construction industry to “outperform.” British Airways Plc rallied 4 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added Europe’s third- largest airline to its “conviction buy” list.
The MSCI World added 0.5 percent at 10:22 a.m. in London. The measure has soared 66 percent since March 9 as earnings at companies topped estimates and investors grow more confident in the strength of the global economic recovery.
The Irish agency “is actually a double whammy,” Chris McGale, head of European equities at Pali International in London, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It is great for the economy and the banks get stabilization out of it too.”
Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index climbed 0.4 percent, rising for the 10th time in 11 days. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1.3 percent to a one-year high as growing investor confidence in the global economy prompted Japanese steelmakers to start idled plants.
U.S. Futures
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fluctuated before a report that may show U.S. builders broke ground on the most houses in nine months in August. Separate data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia may show manufacturing activity in the region increased this month.
Bank of Ireland rallied 9.9 percent to 3.15 euros and Allied Irish jumped 23 percent to 3.23 euros. Ireland’s new National Asset Management Agency, or NAMA, proposes to pay a 30 percent discount on the 77 billion-euro book value of the loans, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said in a speech in parliament in Dublin yesterday.
Allied Irish said it will seek to raise about 2 billion euros in capital from investors and asset sales after taking losses on loans it’s selling to NAMA. Bank of Ireland will publish a statement later today.
Saint-Gobain rose 3.7 percent to 35.47 euros after Exane raised its rating on the shares to “outperform” from “neutral” and upgraded the construction and building-material industries to “outperform” from “neutral.” The recommendation follows an upgrade from Goldman Sachs, which yesterday lifted its rating on European building shares to “neutral” from “cautious.”
Holcim Gains
Holcim Ltd., the world’s second-biggest cement maker, advanced 2.9 percent to 75.5 Swiss francs after Exane also raised its recommendation on the stock to “outperform” from “neutral.”
British Airways advanced 4 percent to 236.4 pence after Goldman Sachs added the shares to its “conviction buy” list, citing a recovery in sales, cost-cutting and synergies from a potential merger with Spain’s Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA.
Iberia gained 3.1 percent to 2.06 euros.
EasyJet Plc surged 7.2 percent to 398.4 pence after Morgan Stanley upgraded Europe’s second-biggest discount carrier to “overweight” from “equal weight.”
Kingfisher Plc increased 2 percent to 209.7 pence. Europe’s largest home-improvement retailer posted a 37 percent increase in first-half profit to 201 million pounds ($332 million) after it increased sales of kitchens at its B&Q U.K. chain and closed a distribution center to cut expenses.
A gauge of technology shares led declines in Europe after Oracle Corp., the world’s second-biggest software maker, reported first-quarter sales that missed analysts’ estimates. The Redwood City, California-based company fell 2 percent to $21.69 in German trading.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment