Europe midday: Listless shares drift lower in muted trade
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Tuesday 09 Feb 2021
(Sharecast News) - European shares slipped further into the red by lunchtime on Tuesday as investors booked profits after the rally of recent days.
The benchmark pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.27%, after gains in recent days driven by vaccine roll-outs and hopes the US Covid-19 relief package would make swift progress through Congress.
All major Continental bourses were also lower. Germany's DAX index was down 0.13%, despite official data showing German exports rose in December.
In equity news, shares in Danish hearing aid maker Demant topped the gainers. The company said it expected to return to strong growth in 2021 as Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted and reported earnings for the second half of 2020 above expectations.
Shares in German leasing firm Grenke rebounded after Monday's slump, gaining 7% after chief operating officer Mark Kindermann, resigned. He told the firm's supervisory board that it would be necessary to revise "preliminary assessments" of the firm's financial performance once audits had been completed.
UK online supermarket and logistics provider Ocado slumped despite reporting a 68.8% rise in full-year core earnings as investors baulked at the company's planned £700m in capital expenditure, and a subdued outlook for UK retail growth in the coming 12 months.
Shares in CD Projekt, the company behind troubled game Cyberpunk 2077, fell after it revealed it had been hit by a ransomware attack.
In a post to its Twitter feed on Tuesday, CD Projekt, the Polish developers, shared the ransom note left by the hackers, who claimed to have copied the source code for a number of the studio's biggest games including Cyberpunk and The Witcher 3, as well as encrypted the servers themselves.
TUI ticked higher even as the travel company slumped to a €699m first-quarter loss as Covid-19 lockdowns continued to hammer demand.
Shares in French oil major Total rose after the company said earnings recovered in the fourth quarter as oil prices recovered, although a hit from writedowns on assets due to the Covid-19 pandemic saw it plunge to a $7.2bn net loss for fiscal 2020.
Micro Focus gained after the software firm reinstated its dividend, despite a near $3bn impairment charge pushing it deep into the red.
Electrocomponents rallied after an upgrade to 'overweight' at JPMorgan, while Spirent Communications was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Canaccord.
Bellway rose after the housebuilder hailed record first-half completions amid "robust" demand. Rivals Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley also pushed higher.
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