Amsterdam shares lower in early afternoon trade, Pharming falls

Amsterdam shares lower in early afternoon trade, Pharming falls

	Published : Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:06 By : Agencies Print this Story

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Share prices in Amsterdam were slightly down in early afternoon trading after a busy week of earnings reports and tracking major markets across Europe, with Pharming a notable decliner after posting disappointing full-year results, dealers said.

At 1.07 pm the AEX was down 0.54 points or 0.10 pct at 507.29, off an intraday low of 506.74 and down from an intraday high of 508.

Government bonds traded slightly higher, while the euro was 1.3122 usd versus 1.3138 usd late yesterday.

Trade was hesitant, with the AEX swinging above and below its opening price ahead of an expected slightly higher Wall Street.

Pharming led decliners, falling 3.93 pct to 3.67 after the Dutch biotech group posted 'disappointing' results for 2006.

Reed Elsevier was off 0.62 pct at 14.42 after being downgraded to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' by Lehman Brothers.

Akzo Nobel was up 1.09 pct at 46.50 eur as it recovered some of its losses after its weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, dealers said.

DSM also recovered some of the week's losses and was trading 0.78 pct higher at 34.98

TomTom led gainers, up 1.03 pct at 33.51 eur, while ASML was up 0.46 pct to 19.67 and Getronics was up 0.28 pct at 7.05.

Financials traded mixed with ABN Amro down 3.50 pct to 24.83, while Aegon was up 0.33 pct at 15.30 eur, Fortis added 0.26 to 34.31, while ING slid 0.44 to 34.33.

Heineken was down 1.04 pct at 39.84, ahead of its 2006 figures next week, and fellow brewer Grolsch, due to report its figures on Tuesday, was up 2.19 pct at 32.70.

On the midcap index, Van der Moolen was up 1.36 pct at 4.47, Oce was up 1.13 at 12.55 and Crucell was 0.79 higher at 20.51 pct.

Nutreco was a notable decliner, falling 2.08 pct to 51.75 eur as various brokers downgraded the stock following yesterday's results.

Boskalis Westminster fell 0.96 pct to 72.50.

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