European shares seen mixed
LONDON
Mon May 31, 2010 1:51am EDT
Stocks
Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG
RIBH.VI
€34.99
+0.11+0.32%
12:00am GMT+0200
ArcelorMittal
ISPA.AS
€24.72
-0.38-1.51%
12:00am GMT+0200
Deutsche Bank AG
DBKGn.DE
€48.47
-0.89-1.81%
12:00am GMT+0200
LONDON (Reuters) - European shares were expected to open mixed on Monday, tracking gains in Asia, but with caution prevailing after Fitch downgraded its rating on Spain late on Friday, in the latest development in the euro zone debt crisis.
France
France warned keeping its credit rating may be a stretch without tough budget cuts.
Germany's DAX
.GDAXI was seen opening 5 points higher, or up 0.1 percent, and France's CAC-40
.FCHI was expected to open 0.3 percent lower, according to financial spreadbetters.
Britain's stock market will remain closed for a holiday.
Underscoring worries about regional debt pressures, France admitted on Sunday that keeping its top-notch credit rating would be "a stretch" without some tough budget decisions, following German hints that Berlin may resort to raising taxes to help bring down its deficit.
Ratings agency Fitch cut Spain's credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on Friday, saying the country's economic recovery will be "more muted" than the government forecast due to its austerity measures.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300
.FTEU3 index of top shares closed down 0.3 percent at 997.70 points on Friday.
The index has lost 6.1 percent so far in May, its worst monthly decline since February 2009, as nervousness over sovereign debt in euro zone peripheral countries prompted investors to dump equities in favor of safe-haven assets.
Notable macroeconomic data expected on Monday include the European Commission's economic sentiment indicator for the 16-country area at 0900 GMT, which is expected to rise to 101 points in May, from a 25-month high of 100.6 in the previous month.
Euro zone consumer and industrial sentiment is also expected at 0900 GMT, along with the bloc's inflation flash for May.
COMPANY NEWS:
RAIFFEISEN INTERNATIONAL (
RIBH.VI)
Raiffeisen International set the stage for its planned merger with parent RZB with a first-quarter earnings beat helped by low risk charges, and priced the deal within a range indicated last month.
ARCELORMITTAL(
ISPA.AS)
The world's largest steelmaker is planning a foray into power generation in India, the Business Standard reported on Monday, citing a person familiar with the situation.
DEUTSCHE BANK (
DBKGn.DE)
The company on Sunday denied Israeli media reports that it had divested a small stake in defense contractor Elbit Systems (
ESLT.O), saying the bank did not own any shares to sell.
SANTANDER (
SAN.MC), BBVA (
BBVA.MC), RBS (
RBS.L)
Santander and National Australia Bank (
NAB.AX) are through to the next round of bidding for 300 branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland, pulling ahead of rival suitor BBVA, a source familiar with the matter said.
EADS (
EAD.PA)
The euro's decline against the dollar should really start to benefit European aerospace group EADS from 2013, given its foreign exchange hedging policy, Chief Executive Louis Gallois told French weekly Investir.
LUFTHANSA (
LHAG.DE)
Lufthansa wants a one-year delay to the inclusion of airlines in Europe's emission trading scheme due to the flight disruption from a volcanic ash cloud in April, its chief executive tells Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
TELEFONICA (
TEF.MC)
Portugal Telecom (
PTC.LS) said on Friday it has not made any offer to buy Telefonica's stake in their Brazilian mobile joint venture Vivo (
VIVO4.SA) and its board has not made any decision on the issue.
BP (
BP.L)
U.S. government and BP officials are warning that the blown-out oil well causing an environmental disaster on the Gulf Coast may not be stopped until August as the company begins preparations on a new attempt to capture the leaking crude.
PRUDENTIAL (
PRU.L)
Prudential investors will back the group's bid for AIG's (
AIG.N) Asian life insurance arm provided it can negotiate a 10 percent cut in the deal's $35.5 billion price tag, the Sunday Times reported.
(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Hans Peters)