LONDON (ShareCast) - Europe's main markets closed mixed after trading in and out of the blue during the day.
UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news)
gained after the New York Times (NYSE: NYT - news) reported that the US Justice Department may drop a legal case aimed at forcing the Swiss bank to reveal the names of 52,000 wealthy American clients suspected of offshore tax evasion. The Justice Department denied the reports.
Other banking shares, however, were lower. Credit Agricole (Paris: FR0000045072 - news) , Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) , Santander (Madrid: SAN.MC - news) and UniCredit (Milan: UCG.MI - news) were all stuck in the red.
On the positive side, pharmaceutical giants Roche (Virt-X: ROG.VX - news) , GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK.L - news) and AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN.L - news) were all going well.
Across the markets, the German DAX is up 13 points at 4,707, with the French CAC falling 6 points at 3,116. The Swiss market gained 11 points to 5,321.
Peugeot Citroen, Europe's second-largest carmaker, said it expects to post an operating loss of up to €2bn this year. The group forecasts a loss of between €1bn and €2bn for the full-year, depending on how much aid the French government is able to offer the auto-industry.
"A number of uncertainties remain," it said in the statement. "Whether or not government support programs will be pursued in 2010. If not, fourth-quarter production will be scaled back."
Peugeot (Paris: FR0000121501 - news) also announced plans to issue up to €575m of convertible bonds.
In other corporate news, the loss of its Premier League TV rights has proved disastrous for Irish sports broadcaster Setanta, forcing its UK business off-air today.
Deloitte is taking control of the British arm after it went into administration Tuesday following its failure to pay money owed to the English Premier League (EPL).
In economic news, the preliminary Markit purchasing managers index rose for the fourth month in a row in June, to 44.4 from 44.0 in May.
Elsewhere, Europe could face another gas supply crisis this summer amid growing concerns that Ukraine will not be able to pay for Russian gas.
The European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are in talks to secure an emergency loan to avoid a gas cut-off. José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, said: "We must not sleep-walk into another gas crisis."
CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers
Bouygues (EN) € 25.95 +4.01%
Carrefour (CA) € 30.85 +3.45%
Essilor International (EI) € 33.96 +1.98%
L'Oreal (Paris: FR0000120321 - news) (OR) € 52.88 +1.79%
Unibail-Rodamco (UL) € 106.11 +1.06%
Sanofi (Paris: FR0000120578 - news) -Aventis (SAN) € 47.40 +0.73%
Lagardere SCA (MMB) € 22.82 +0.55%
LVMH (MC) € 55.03 +0.55%
Peugeot (UG) € 19.38 +0.41%
France Telecom (Paris: FR0000133308 - news) (FTE) € 16.13 +0.34%
CAC 40 - Fallers
ST Microelectronics (Paris: NL0000226223 - news) (STM) € 5.09 -4.23%
Credit Agricole (ACA) € 9.50 -4.03%
AXA (CS) € 12.90 -2.05%
Societe Generale (GLE) € 38.12 -2.02%
Vallourec (VK) € 82.60 -2.00%
Schneider Electric (Paris: FR0000121972 - news) (SU) € 51.59 -1.96%
BNP Paribas (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) (BNP) € 43.78 -1.62%
Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM (AF (Stockholm: 45674.ST - news) ) € 8.78 -1.56%
Cap Gemini (Paris: FR0000125338 - news) (CAP) € 24.58 -1.50%
ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 22.22 -1.35%
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