European stocks were little changed on Friday amid earnings reports, completing their biggest monthly rally since February.
Miners and energy companies fell as commodities extended a monthly plunge. Spain’s CaixaBank SA dropped 2.4 percent after cutting its net interest income growth forecast for this year. BNP Paribas SA climbed 2.9 percent as France’s largest bank swung to its biggest quarterly profit in more than three years.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained less than 0.1 percent to 396.37 at the close of trading. It has advanced 4 percent this month, rebounding from a low as concern faded that Greece will leave the euro. Surging profit at companies including Deutsche Bank AG and PSA Peugeot Citroen and a flurry of deals announcements pushed the STOXX 600 up 2.7 percent since Monday.
“Investors are digesting the earnings and some days you can get good and bad news,” said Jacques Porta, a fund manager who helps oversee 500 million euros (US$547 million) at Ofi Gestion Privee in Paris. “Overall, the earnings season has been of a good quality. Some sectors are doing badly, such as commodity producers because the Chinese economy is weak, and the energy sector is declining. Soon it will be interesting to go there because they’re getting very cheap.”
Energy producers fell 0.9 percent for the biggest decline among industry groups in the STOXX 600. A gauge of miners dropped 0.5 percent. Vallourec SA lost 6.3 percent after the steelmaker said the rest of the year will be difficult. Antofagasta PLC slid 2.3 percent after agreeing to buy a 50 percent interest in a copper mine from Barrick Gold Corp.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC fell 1.6 percent after saying it is not in merger talks with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. Volkswagen AG slid 1.4 percent after a court order to pay MAN SE minority shareholders more an earlier offer, adding to the cost of gaining full control of the German truckmaker.
Airbus Group SE rose 3.5 percent after posting an increase in earnings on higher deliveries of civil airliners. ArcelorMittal gained 1.5 percent after reporting profit that beat analysts’ estimates.
ITV PLC climbed 3.4 percent after Liberty Global PLC increased its stake in the UK broadcaster to 9.9 percent. Mediobanca SpA rose 3.1 percent after saying it’s considering a takeover bid for Cairn Capital.
Austrian shares began trading late because Vienna’s stock exchange had problems with its data distribution system.
The rebound in the STOXX 600 this month sent the gauge up 16 percent for the year. The VSTOXX Index, a measure tracking fear in the equity market, plunged a record 40 percent last month.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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