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European stock market indices up

05 November 2009 07:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku- APA-Economics. A post-Federal Reserve interest-rate decision sell-off for JPMorgan, Hartford Financial and other financials weighed on stocks Wednesday, though Merck-led gains for health care had stocks closing slightly in the green. In another volatile session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average swing between a150-point gain and the flat line in just the last hour and a half, much of the conversation and trading centered around the Federal Reserve. Late in the day, the Fed kept its key rate target near zero, as traders expected. Among the market’s weak points were financial stocks, which fell broadly as a group, and small-cap companies. Both categories have suffered lately as investors have shed risk from their portfolios - a trend that the Fed announcement may not necessarily reverse in the weeks ahead.
For Wednesday, the Dow closed up 30.23 points, or 0.31%, to 9802.14, marking its second increase in three sessions. Gains in the index were led by Merck, up $1.97, or 6.4%, to $32.64, after the pharmaceutical giant reiterated its earnings targets following the completion of its acquisition of Schering-Plough. Continuing recent trends, the other broad indexes fared worse than the Dow, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 closing up just 1.09, or 0.1%, at 1046.50. Financials were its weakest component, down 1.5%. Among the decliners, Dow component JPMorgan slid 49 cents, or 1.2%, to 42.21, while S&P 500 component Hartford Financial closed down 1.38, or 5.3%, at 24.44. Hurting Hartford, the life insurance company posted its fifth quarterly loss in a row for the third quarter, though the company did raise its full-year operating earnings guidance. Weighing on both the Dow and S&P 500, Kraft Foods slid 87 cents, or 3.2%, to 26.67, as its third-quarter profit declined 40%, while revenue fell on currency impacts. Sales fell short of analysts’ expectations. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.80, or 0.09%, to 2055.52, snapping a two-day advance.
European shares advanced Wednesday as investors bought into the mining sector and pushed up shares in Societe Generale, Bank of Ireland, Adidas and Marks & Spencer in the wake of forecast-beating results. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index rose 1.8% to close at 239.13, as miners advanced strongly after gold futures surged to a record and other metal futures also gained ground. A weak dollar and India’s recent purchase of bullion continued to whet investors’ appetite for the precious metal and shares of Kazakhmys jumped 7% while shares of Fresnillo rose 8.9%. On a regional basis, the German DAX index rose 1.7% to settle at 5,444.23, the French CAC-40 index gained 2.4% to end at 3,670.33 and the U.K. FTSE 100 index climbed 1.4% to finish at 5,107.89.