Euro bourses rise as oil dips

LONDON: European equity markets advanced yesterday with three stock markets setting new records amid easing energy prices and record levels on Wall Street, but the aerospace sector was slammed by bad news from Airbus, dealers said.

Crude oil prices in London and New York dipped briefly below $58 per barrel, which should help corporate profits and ease fears of rising inflation, they added.

Shares in Paris-listed aerospace company EADS went into a tailspin after the group revealed late on Tuesday that deliveries of the troubled Airbus A380 superjumbo would be delayed by another year on average.

In European trading, London??™s FTSE 100 index of leading shares won 0.50% to 5,966.50 points, Frankfurt??™s DAX 30 gained 0.90% to 6,046.37 and in Paris, the CAC 40 index added 0.70% to 5,256.55 points.

New records were set meanwhile by smaller stock exchanges in Belgium, Spain and Switzerland.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased by 0.89% in value to 3,914.73 points.

The euro stood at $1.2686.

As European markets closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.38% to 11,771.44 points after closing on Tuesday at an all-time high of 11,727.34.

The previous record had been set on January 14, 2000 at the height of the "dot-com" boom.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite showed a gain of 0.93% in midday trading yesterday at 2,264.52 while the broad Standard & Poor??™s 500 index was up by 0.44% at 1,340.04.

In Paris, the share price of EADS tumbled 4.15% to 21.71 euros a day after it announced new A380 delays and warned that it expected cumulative losses in core earnings of 4.8bn euros ($6bn)

Analysts also lowered their recommendations on the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company on the likelihood that EADS aircraft unit Airbus will have to compensate customers.

The stock had lost up to 11.69% of its value in intraday trading before bouncing back somewhat. EADS owns 80% of Airbus.

In London, Britain??™s BAE Systems, which holds the remaining 20-percent stake in Airbus, saw its shares slide 0.56% to 397 pence despite a shareholder approval of the stake??™s sale to EADS.

Across in Frankfurt, DaimlerChrysler ??“ which owns 22.3% of EADS ??“ suffered intraday losses but nonetheless ended with a gain of 1.17% at 39.65 euros.

Meanwhile oil-exposed stocks, such as airline and auto companies, enjoyed a strong showing.

Lufthansa shares won 2.28% to 17.03 euros, while British Airways soared 3.68% to 450.25 pence in London.

In Amsterdam, the AEX index gained 0.57% to 484.40 points, the Swiss SMI gained 0.70% to set a new record at 8,448.91 points, in Milan the SP/Mib was up by 0.80% at 38,707, in Madrid the Ibex-35 set a record of 12,982.6 points with a gain of 0.95%, and in Brussels the Bel-20 added 0.61% to set its own record of 4,084.08. ??“ AFP