Mining and exploration stocks rise

FEARS THAT Chinese growth may be slowing, nervousness ahead of today’s Spanish debt auction and signs that the Bank of England will pull back from further stimulus depressed markets yesterday.

China’s home prices fell in a record 37 of 70 cities tracked by the government in March as officials pledged to keep restrictions on property purchases that have sapped buyer demand. Its economy grew 8.1 per cent in the first quarter, the slowest pace in almost three years.

Non-performing loans for Spanish banks as a proportion of total lending jumped to 8.16 per cent in February, the highest level since 1994, from less than 1 per cent in 2007.

DUBLIN

DEALERS REPORTED that trade in many stocks was thin and volumes were low. However, Bank of Ireland benefited from talk that it may be included in the next MSCI Index, details of which will be released on May 15th.

The bank, which is not majority owned by the State, gained 2.63 per cent to close at 11.7 cent, with around 70 million shares traded on the day.

Miners and exploration companies proved popular yesterday, a fact that was also reflected in both London and Europe generally.

Providence, which has been responsible for a series of good news stories lately, gained 2.28 per cent to close at €6.95.

Titanium miner, Kenmare, added 5.57 per cent to close at 62.6 cent.

There was also plenty of interest in international packaging group, Smurfit, on indications from the US that prices in the sector are likely to hold up.

The group closed 0.57 per cent up at €6.879, but traded in the region of €6.93 during the day.LONDON

THE FTSE 100 closed down 21.66 points, or 0.4 per cent, after two days of gains, as a number of stocks moved into the ex-dividend period when investors will no longer qualify for the latest payout.

Mining stocks continued to underpin the market, with Fresnillo making the biggest gains, jumping 3.2 per cent to £16.24.

Severn Trent Plc increased 3.1 per cent to £16.56 as analysts recommended the share.

Tesco declined 2.2 per cent to £3.2105 after earlier rallying as much as 2.3 per cent. Britain’s largest retailer posted a 1.3 per cent increase in annual profit to £3.76 billion, in line with analyst estimates, and said it will invest £1 billion to revive ailing UK stores.

EUROPE

THE STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.7 per cent to 257.71 in London. The benchmark gauge has lost 2.1 per cent so far in April on renewed concern that the EU’s sovereign-debt crisis will worsen. The Stoxx 600 has still advanced 5.4 per cent so far this year.

“The debt crisis is far from over still and I think Spain will be worse before it gets better,” Henrik Drusebjerg, a senior equity strategist at Nordea Bank AB in Copenhagen, told Bloomberg Television.

Santander, Spain’s largest bank, dropped 4 per cent to 4.81 euros. Banco Popular Espanol SA fell 3.2 per cent to €2.39. CaixaBank slid 3.5 per cent to €2.60. A gauge of European bank shares was the second-worst performer of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx 600.

Repsol dropped 6.2 per cent to €15.40 euros. Argentina rejected its demand for $10.5 billion in compensation after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner seized its YPF SA unit, saying it hasn’t invested enough in the South American country.

Iberdrola dropped 7.9 per cent to €3.59, its lowest since November 2003, after Actividades de Construccion Servicios SA sold a 3.7 per cent stake in Spain’s biggest power company to cut debt. ASML Holding NV, Europe’s biggest semiconductor equipment maker, fell 1.6 per cent to €37.33 after failing to provide forecasts for future orders.

Statoil Fuel Retail soared 51 per cent to 52.60 kroner. Alimentation Couche-Tard offered to buy the company for 53 kroner per share, valuing it at 15.9 billion kroner ($2.8 billion), a 53 per cent premium.

BHP Billiton added 0.9 per cent to £19.43 sterling, gaining for a third day. The world’s largest mining company said third- quarter iron ore production rose 14 per cent as it expands its mines and port in Australia.

Heineken NV advanced 2.5 per cent to €43.35 after reporting first-quarter revenue of €3.83 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of €3.74 billion.

US

US STOCKS fell, after the biggest advance in more than a month for the SP’s 500 Index, as Intel and International Business Machines drove a slump in technology shares after reporting results.

Intel slumped 1.9 per cent to $27.94, while IBM retreated 3.1 per cent to $200.93. IBM’s revenue climbed 0.3 per cent to $24.7 billion in the period, while Intel sales rose 0.5 per cent to $12.9 billion. That was the smallest increase for either company since the third quarter of 2009, when the US economy was just emerging from recession.