Madrid shares off lows midday as banks rebound; Telefonica firm

Madrid shares off lows midday as banks rebound; Telefonica firm

	Published : Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:28 By : Agencies Print this Story

MADRID (Thomson Financial) - Share prices were lower, but off intra-day lows in quiet midday trading as banks such as Popular staged a rebound and Telefonica remained firm, while Acciona was under pressure after nine months results.

At 12.25 pm, the IBEX-35 index shed 51.60 points to 15,719.20, after trading in a range of 15,634-15,732.

Equities opened lower, depressed by Wall Street's overnight slide into negative territory at the close, but pared losses over the morning thanks to a rebound in selected domestically-focused banks.

'Selling in the banks is starting to look overdone,' a trader at a leading international investment bank said.

'Otherwise, we have got strong TMTs today across Europe and weak utilities,' he said, adding: 'And Acciona is getting dragged lower on the back of results.'

Popular gained 0.16 eur to 11.89, Santander added 0.02 to 14.83 and BBVA put on 0.06 to 16.59.

Bankinter remained lower, however, shedding 0.07 to 10.03 after strong gains yesterday fuelled by ongoing M&A speculation.

Telefonica advanced 0.23 to 22.82, extending yesterday's gains after reporting forecast-beating nine month results.

Other TMTs were higher, tracking the firmer sector trend across Europe, with Antena 3 up 0.15 at 11.45 and Telecinco adding 0.06 to 18.36, while Prisa gained 0.16 to 12.70 after Cheuvreux hiked its target price to 18.8 eur per share and reiterated its 'outperform' stance.

Renewables underperformed the broad market, with Acciona down 9.2 or 4.05 pct at 217.80, with dealers citing a weak set of nine month results, and Gamesa shedding 1.59 or 4.58 pct to 33.09, after recent strength.

Inditex dropped 1.51 or 2.95 pct to 49.74 after being cut to 'hold' from 'buy' at Dresdner Kleinwort, on valuation grounds.

Among smaller caps, Solaria plummeted 1.91 or 8.70 pct to 20.03, on concerns over the success of core shareholder Solaria DTL's placement of 10 pct of the company from its 75.5 pct stake and fears of further disposals.

Outperforming the broad market, Vueling climbed 1.38 or 8.76 pct to 17.13 after news of resignation by chairwoman Barbara Cassani, who will be replaced by Josep Pique.

'The new management should be able to focus now on the strategy of the airline and try to make it profitable sooner rather than later,' BPI analysts said.

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