European stock markets were mostly unchanged on Tuesday, as losses in the industrial and healthcare sectors were balanced out by gains in energy companies and luxury stocks.
The main STOXX 600 index was steady at 570.2 points. French stocks also stabilized after their sharp drop yesterday following the sudden resignation of the Prime Minister. The outgoing Prime Minister is holding final talks with political parties today and tomorrow.
On the downside:
Healthcare stocks fell 0.6%, with major companies like Germany’s Bayer and Denmark’s Novo Nordisk both dropping around 2%.
Top defense companies, including Rheinmetall and BAE Systems, also lost about 1%.
Helping to support the market:
Oil and gas stocks were boosted, rising 1.9%. Energy giant Shell saw its shares climb after it predicted higher production and better trading results for liquefied natural gas in the third quarter.
Luxury goods companies LVMH and Kering saw their shares rise by 1.8% and 2.2% respectively, after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on them.
In company news, discount retailer B&M fell sharply by about 15% after predicting a 28% drop in its core earnings for the first half of the year, leading to a forecast of lower annual profit.
Shares of the major oil company Shell rose 1.9% to 2790.5 pence, making it the second-biggest gainer on the FTSE 100. The company announced several updates. The company raised its forecast for the third quarter’s production of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to between 7.0 and 7.4 million metric tons. It also expects that its trading results for the integrated gas division in the third quarter will be significantly higher than they were in the second quarter.
However, Shell also stated it will take a $600 million financial hit due to the cancellation of its Rotterdam biofuels project. Even with this loss, the company’s stock has performed well this year, having climbed over 10.5% year-to-date as of its last closing price
On the FX front, the Japanese yen continued to weaken on Tuesday, falling to its lowest level against the dollar in two months.
The yen slid 0.1% to 150.46 per dollar (after touching a low of 150.62). It also hit a fresh all-time low against the euro at 176.35 before regaining some ground. This move comes as attention in Japan shifts to who the new pro-stimulus party leader, Sanae Takaichi, will name to her government.
Meanwhile, the US dollar index edged up 0.1% to 98.23. The euro slipped 0.1% to trade at 1.1694, extending its losses from the previous day. The British pound also weakened 0.1% to 1.3463.
In commodity currencies, the Australian dollar fell 0.1% to 0.6608, and the New Zealand dollar dropped 0.3% to 0.5822.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin declined 0.7% to 124,334.94, while Ether rose 0.5% to 4,713.78.
Currency Power Balance