Thursday January 10, 10:05 AM
Stockholm shares slightly higher midmorning; Boliden falls on broker downgrade
STOCKHOLM (Thomson Financial) - Stockholm shares were slightly higher in midmorning trade underpinned by Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICB.ST - news) , but with the market off its opening highs amid soft US futures, and with investor sentiment cautious ahead of the fourth-quarter reporting season.
At 10.40 am, the OMX Stockholm index was up 0.18 pct at 326.67 points, while the OMX Stockholm 30 was 0.32 pct higher at 1,006.86. Turnover amounted to 5.547 bln skr.
'The market's slightly up on a rebound from yesterday, but everybody's keeping a close eye on the US futures,' said a broker.
'The institutions and everybody else are just waiting for the fourth-quarter reports now, mainly to see what companies have to say about the future', he said.
The broker added that local analysts have been pressing companies to come out with profit warnings if they are warranted ahead of the Q4 results.
'But so far nothing, so we'll just have to see,' he said.
Other than results the market is preoccupied with the US economy and the Fed's outlook for rates.
Ericsson B was up 0.65 pct at 14.01 skr bid
Telecoms operators were mixed with TeliaSonera (Stockholm: TLSN.ST - news) up 0.41 pct at 61.25 and Tele2 B down 1.31 pct at 131.75.
Boliden (Stockholm: BOLI.ST - news) was down 4.61 pct at 72.50 and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO - news) down 4.19 pct at 51.50 after UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) downgraded Boliden to 'neutral' from 'buy' and cut its target price cut to 80 skr from 130 skr, according to traders.
In a note published this morning, UBS said that Boliden faces a near-term headwind as it expects the zinc price to be under pressure, the copper smelting market to be weak and its zinc and copper mining production to be down in 2008 versus 2007.
SAS (Stockholm: SAS.ST - news) was down 2.92 pct at 66.50 after Carnegie reiterated its 'Neutral' rating on the stock. The broker said although the share has lost more than half its value in the last six months the outlook remains uncertain.
'The stock has declined significantly in recent months, making the valuation cheap. However, there are reasons to keep a cautious stance: i) poor near-term earnings momentum; ii) poor earnings visibility for 2008; iii) a sharp increase in jet fuel prices; and iv) the global economic slowdown. We therefore keep our Neutral rating on the stock,' said Carnegie in a note to clients.
Hennes & Mauritz B was up 0.59 pct at 341.50 after its 7.5 pct sell-off yesterday.
Elsewhere the market was little changed. Among leading shares traded. Volvo B was up 0.54 pct at 93.75, Sandvik up 0.54 pct at 93.50, Nordea up 0.39 pct at 102.90, and Swedbank A unchanged at 172.00.
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