Friday May 9, 01:27 PM
Lisbon shares lower midday as Portucel, Cimpor outperform
LISBON (Thomson Financial) - Shares were lower in midday trade, in line with weak sentiment in major European markets, but paper maker Portucel, its parent company Semapa and cement maker Cimpor outperformed.
At 12.55 p.m., the PSI (PSCPE.OB - news) 20 index was down 65.98 points at 11,181.40.
Equities opened lower after a moderate advance in Wall Street overnight and losses in Asian markets, hovered around flat levels for the early part of the session and then dropped into negative territory.
Portucel rose 0.02 to 2.40 after daily Diario Economico reported that Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol is mulling acquiring a stake in the paper and pulp maker.
Portucel's parent Semapa advanced 0.05 to 9.22.
Cement maker Cimpor rose 0.03 to 6.10, on the day of its AGM.
Portugal Telecom (Lisbon: PTC.LS - news) rose 0.01 to 7.97, outperforming and tracking stregth amid selected European telecoms.
In the same sector, Sonaecom (Lisbon: SNC.LS - news) shed 0.01 to 2.315. EDP's CEO Antonio Mexia said on Thursday that the group plans to sell the 8 percent stake it holds in Sonaecom as part of EDP's policy of divesting non-core assets.
Cable operator Zon rose 0.01 to 8.97.
In the energy sector, Galp shed 0.01 to 16.50.
Blue chip EDP was down 0.005 at 4.145, also outperforming, after first-quarter results released late on Thursday came in ahead of estimates.
EDP said net profit rose to 263.3 million euros from 241.4 million, beating estimates for 174 million euros to 255 million euros.
Among banks, heavyweight BCP was down 0.045 or 2.45 percent at 1.795.
BBVA (Madrid: BBVA.MC - news) has downgraded BCP to 'sell' from 'underperform', cutting the bank's price target to 1.5 euros per share from 3.1 euros per share previously.
Other banks were also weak, with Banco BPI shedding 0.05 to 3.66 and BES down 0.135 at 12.19.
Small cap builder Soares da Costa shed 0.03 or 1.71 percent to 1.72, retreating partly from sharp gains late on Thursday.
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