Inside Financial Markets

European Stocks Rise From Three-Month Low on BES Bailout

europeEuropean Stocks Rise From Three-Month Low on BES Bailout

European stocks climbed, rebounding from their lowest level in three months, as Portugal bailed out Banco Espirito Santo SA, easing concern about the region’s most indebted lenders. U.S. stock futures also gained, while Asian shares were little changed.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) SA rose 2.1 percent as Morgan Stanley recommended buying shares in the maker of telecommunications-networking equipment. Balfour Beatty Plc added 1.4 percent on a report that WS Atkins Plc and WSP Global Inc. are among bidders for the company’s U.S. infrastructure consulting business.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.1 percent to 332.24 at 8:30 a.m. in London. The equity benchmark fell for a second consecutive month in July, posting its first back-to-back losses in more than two years. The gauge dropped 2.9 percent last week to close at its lowest level since April 16.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.3 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index were little changed.

Global equities lost about $1.2 trillion in value last week amid concern that Argentina’s default and the crisis at Espirito Santo would constrict credit markets. Portugal’s central bank has taken control of Espirito Santo in a 4.9 billion-euro ($6.6 billion) bailout that will move most of the lender’s assets to a new company called Novo Banco, according to a statement yesterday. The lender’s shares plunged 73 percent last week before they were suspended on Aug. 1.

Bank Shares

A gauge of banking stocks rebounded after dropping 3.2 percent in the final two days of last week. HSBC Holdings Plc, which accounts for 16 percent of the Stoxx 600 Banks Index, reports its first-half financial results at 9:15 a.m. in London.

Alcatel-Lucent gained 2.1 percent to 2.63 euros after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to overweight, which is similar to a buy recommendation, from equal weight. The shares slid 21 percent from the beginning of this year through Aug. 1.

Balfour Beatty added 1.4 percent to 243.1 pence. WS Atkins, WSP, and two private-equity firms are competing to buy Parsons Brinckerhoff, the Sunday Telegraph reported without saying where it got the information. Balfour Beatty’s merger talks with Carillion Plc collapsed last week after Balfour Beatty refused to abandon its planned sale of the New York-based business.

Hugo Boss AG dropped 1.4 percent to 104.55 euros. Permira Advisers LLP, which owns 56 percent of the German maker of luxury suits through its Red & Black Holding GmbH company, is in talks with advisers about a potential sale of its remaining stake, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Data at 10:30 a.m. Frankfurt time may show euro-area investor confidence deteriorated in August. The Sentix research institute’s sentiment index probably fell to 9.0 from 10.1 in July, economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sofia Horta e Costa in London at[email protected]

 

Sanie Khan

Sanie Khan holds a deep knowledge of the financial markets in Pakistan. Based in Karachi, he has over 20 years of hands-on management experience in financial technologies and managing operations in the financial sector. He was the General Manager at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for 17 years. He along-with senior members of Exchange

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