LONDON (ShareCast) - Frankfurt DAX 30 +1.01%
Paris CAC 40 +0.7%
Milan FTSE MIB +0.94%
Madrid IBEX 35 +0.43%
London FTSE 100 +0.57%
Stoxx Europe 600 +0.69%

The main European stock markets are all up on Thursday.

Of great significance, Market News International reports that the European Central Bank (ECB) is pushing regulators to reduce capital requirements for banks. The euro area’s central bank is said to be worried of a credit crunch if banks are forced to retain too much regulated capital on their books.

More positive news for the Eurozone came from Madrid where the Spanish government managed to sell €6.028bn in 4 and 10 year debt. The yields on the benchmark 10 year tranches were 5.239% and 5.545% - higher than the previous auction but not alarmingly so. The bid to cover ratio for the two tranches was 1.52 and 2.16 suggesting there is an appetite for Spanish public debt.

In France the keenly watched Purchasing and Service Managers index came in at 48.7 for December, higher than consensus expectations of 47.

The head of the Banque de France weighed in on the credit rating agencies, which are threatening to take away France’s treasured AAA status. Chritian Noyer argued that “a downgrade would not appear to be justified when considering economic fundamentals. Otherwise, they should start by downgrading the UK which has a larger deficit, just as much debt, more inflation and less growth than France”.

In corporate news the Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica dropped 1.21% after announcing its first dividend cut in 10 years. The French construction firm Bouygues climed 2% on an upbeat interview from its Chief Executive while the German travel giant TUI climbed 9.3% after an analyst upgrade.

OTHER MARKETS:

At 11:50AM in London Brent crude for January delivery had climbed 0.84% to $105.9 per barrel.

Gold futures were trading up 0.25% at $1,590.9 after significant falls yesterday.

At 12:52AM in Paris one euro was worth $1.2995, a climb of 0.0932 on the overnight fix.

BS

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