Wednesday August 5, 12:04 PM
European stocks edge up
LONDON (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets edged upwards on Wednesday, after slim gains overnight on Wall Street, as investors examined the latest corporate results for clues about a possible global economic recovery.
In late morning trading, London's FTSE 100 index of top shares added 0.28 percent to 4,684.47 points.
The Paris CAC 40 gained 0.62 percent to 3,497.62 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 (Xetra: news) rose by a marginal 0.08 percent to 5,421.78 points near the half-way stage.
On the foreign exchange market, the European single currency sank to 1.4384 dollars.
"Weighing on the UK's leading index were the miners, but these losses were counter balanced by gains in the banks, led by Lloyds," said IG Index trader Phlip Gillet.
He added: "There is an air of stability across the markets in the UK at the moment."
In London, Britain's state-controlled Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY.L - news) said on Wednesday that it plunged into a first-half net loss of 3.124 billion pounds, rocked by soaring bad debts from the takeover of HBOS.
The loss, equivalent to 3.7 billion euros, 5.3 billion dollars, contrasted with a net profit of 1.954 billion pounds in the first half of 2008.
However, Lloyds shares rocketed 13.38 percent to 95.49 pence after it also predicted that loan impairments had likely peaked -- and added that the second half looked "tough but manageable".
In Paris, the AXA (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) insurance multinational reported a 38-percent drop in first-half net profit on Wednesday to 1.323 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) but earnings were twice the figure expected by analysts. In reaction, the price of its shares leapt 5.45 percent to 16.14 euros.
Across in Frankfurt, German chemicals giant Henkel (Xetra: 604840 - news) said on Wednesday that net profit in the second quarter had leapt nearly four-fold owing to exceptional items in the figure 12 months earlier.
The maker of Persil washing powder revealed that profit surged to 143 million euros (206 million dollars), whereas the 2008 second quarter figure had been hit by charges linked to a restructuring plan. The group's share price rallied 6.35 percent to 27.13 euros.
Meanwhile, German sports equipment group Adidas (Xetra: 500340 - news) posted a 93-percent drop in second-quarter profit which swamped losses elsewhere in the country's retail sector.
Adidas said net profit in the three months from April to June dropped to nine million euros (13 million dollars) from 116 million in the same period one year earlier.
But the result was better than a forecast loss of 2.2 million euros by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
Adidas stock was 6.47 percent higher at 32.4 euros.
Back in London, loss-making airline British Airways (LSE: BAY.L - news) jumped 7.45 percent to 161.4 pence on hope of an end to the worldwide slump in air travel.
"British Airways (has been) given a much needed boost by US-based airlines figures, suggesting that possibly the worst of the aviation travel slump is over," said IG Index trader Philip Gillet.
US stocks had ended with slim gains Tuesday in choppy trade as strong underlying momentum limited profit taking and kept Wall Street's sizzling summer rally on track.
The modest rise kept a three-week uptrend intact and pushed the main indexes to fresh 2009 highs.
The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 managed a gain of 0.30 percent to 1,005.65 after topping 1,000 on Monday for the first time since November 4.
In Asia on Wednesday, Tokyo share prices shed 1.18 percent as investors took profits a day after the market touched a 10-month high on mounting hopes of an economic recovery.
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