Friday August 8, 05:03 PM
Europe close: Bourses manage modest gains
LONDON (ShareCast) - Banks and oil companies struggled Friday, but the weaker euro and falling crude prices helped carmakers lead the major indices higher. BMW (Xetra: 519000 - news)
finished well ahead in Germany, joined by Daimler (Xetra: 710000 - news) and Volkswagen (Xetra: 766400 - news) , while Renault (Paris: FR0000131906 - news) , Peugeot (Paris: FR0000121501 - news) and luxury motor giant Porsche (Xetra: 693773 - news) also did well. The big drop in oil prices helped fuel hungry airline Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM, though energy stocks Total and Eni (Milan: ENI.MI - news) fell. September crude is down around $4 at $116 a barrel in New York. Sanofi (Paris: FR0000120578 - news) -Aventis rallied on news that the US Food and Drug Administration has given priority review status to the French firm's experimental heart drug Multaq. Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: 91ID.L - news) upped its stance on the group to 'buy' from 'hold'. Fellow pharmaceutical companies Novartis (Virt-X: NOVN.VX - news) and Roche (Virt-X: ROG.VX - news) are also on the rise. Aker Yards (Oslo: AKY.OL - news) ' second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 72m crowns missed expectations. The Norwegian shipbuilder also cut its target for margins in 2008. The German Dax closed 18 higher at 6,56, the French CAC rose 34 to 4,491, while Zurich added 80 to 7,262. In economic news, Italy's GDP dropped 0.3% in the second quarter compared with the first and was unchanged year-on-year, according to preliminary data from statistics office ISTAT. Dutch manufacturing production rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% month-on-month in June compared to a revised 0.5% drop in May, said Statistics Netherlands.
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