Egypt crisis takes its toll on European markets

Eurostoxx 50: 2,995.49 (–17.21) Frankfurt DAX: 7,193.68 (+10.01) Paris CAC: 4,036.59 (–29.94)MOST EUROPEAN stocks fell as gunfire was heard on the streets of Cairo for a second night and crowds of men loyal to President Hosni Mubarak resumed clashes with protesters who want him to step down immediately.

“We’re in a consolidation mood,” said Andreas Lipkow, an equity trader at MWB Fairtrade Wertpapierhandelsbank in Frankfurt. “One problem is Egypt as investors thought tensions were going to be solved quickly, but they’re actually worsening. There’s speculation it might spread to other regions. Shell earnings were a bit of a shock for investors.”

The European Central Bank kept interest rates at a record low as policy makers weighed the risk of faster inflation against the danger that higher borrowing costs could worsen the region’s sovereign-debt crisis.

Shell slumped 3 per cent to 2,200p, its largest drop in seven months. Europe’s biggest oil company posted fourth-quarter profit, excluding one-off items and inventory changes, of $4.1 billion. That missed the $4.7 billion mean estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Total slid 1 per cent to €43.55 even as Yemen LNG, a liquefied natural gas venture that includes Total, said that production remained at full capacity despite a day of protests calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down.

Deutsche Bank climbed 1.5 per cent to €45.10 as Germany’s biggest bank said higher revenue from fixed-income and equities trading lifted fourth-quarter earnings at its investment bank.

GlaxoSmithKline jumped 3.6 per cent to 1,168p after announcing that it will repurchase as much as £2 billion ($3.2 billion) in stock this year, the drugmaker’s first buyback since 2008.

BT surged 3.6 per cent to 184.9p as the UK’s largest fixed-line phone company posted third-quarter adjusted operating profit of £1.48 billion. Analysts had estimated profit of £1.45 billion.

Konecranes Oyj soared 9.1 per cent to €32.85, the biggest gain in a year. The world’s biggest supplier of industrial cranes said fourth-quarter net income of €31.9 million beat the €26.9 million mean estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Salzgitter rallied 1.9 per cent to €60.65. – (Bloomberg)