Euroshares open higher after Dow gains, BP falls on volume concerns

Euroshares open higher after Dow gains, BP falls on volume concerns

	Published : Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:55 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (AFX) - Leading European exchanges are indicated to open a touch higher amid a slew of earnings reports, with oil a key focus as crude inches towards 60 usd a barrel and ahead of results from BP, dealers said.

At 08.29, the STOXX 50 was up 18.23 points at 3842.3 and the STOXX 600 was 1.44 points higher at 380.67.

Last night, the DJIA ended 8.25 points higher at 12,661.74 and the Nasdaq fell 5.28 to 2,470.60 as better-than-expected sales at retail giant Wal-Mart and a flurry of M&A news were tempered by heavy falls at Microsoft following a downbeat note from Barron's.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed up 62.06 at 17,406.86 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was 128.26 better at 20,583.88 by midday.

Still in Asia, oil prices edged close to the 60 usd mark amid forecasts for further very cold weather in the US.

Earlier this morning, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, was up 15 cents to 58.89 usd a barrel from 58.74 usd in late US trades overnight.

In Europe, shares in BP fell 1.29 pct in opening deals after in-line fourth quarter numbers as some dealers expressed concerns about the underlying performance and outlook.

Profit-taking after Goldman Sachs upgraded the shares to 'buy' yesterday also weighed.

'Its a bit of a mixed bag,' said one dealer at a major European brokerage.

'The headline numbers are not that bad but for the first time the reserve replacement ratio -- at 113 pct -- is below Royal Dutch Shell's (150 pct) and the volume outlook for 2009 is a bit disappointing.

ABN Amro agreed.

'Production guidance for 2007 was disappointing and capex was higher than expected,' the broker said.

'Overall negative at first glance.'

deborah.hyde@afxnews.com

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