Madrid shares higher midday, Vueling up 8.7 pct

Madrid shares higher midday, Vueling up 8.7 pct

	Published : Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:53 By : Agencies Print this Story

MADRID (AFX) - Share prices were higher midday rebounding from early profit-taking with market newcomer Vueling up more than 8 pct, dealers said.

At 12.25 pm, the IBEX-35 index put on 43.4 points to 14,458.5, after trading in a range of 14,353-14,463, on turnover of 2.0 bln eur.

Equities opened lower as profit-taking weighed but recovered late morning to extend yesterday's gains.

Vueling was up 3.25 eur or 8.7 pct at 38.70 after JP Morgan initiated coverage with 'overweight' stance.

Banco Popular, 0.20 higher at 15.00 was the most popular blue chip on high expectations for full year results published next Thursday. Sector peer Bankinter, which releases earnings the same day, was up 0.55 at 60.80.

Other gainers included Mapfre, 0.03 higher at 3.92, ahead of a news conference with Caja Castilla to talk about their product distribution accord, and Iberdrola, up 0.23 at 32.66 shrugging off a downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' at Exane BNP.

Among major blue chips, BBVA was up 0.03 at 19.10, SCH climbed 0.03 to 14.35, Telefonica was flat at 16.92 and Endesa was also unmoved at 36.75.

Prisa slipped 0.14 to 13.97 following reports RTL Group is analysing the possibility of launching a competing bid for the Portuguese media group Grupo Media Capital SGPS.

Selected media stocks were also on offer, with Antena 3 down 0.04 to 17.65, and Telecinco off 0.09 to 21.63. Sogecable was 0.05 lower at 27.26, on lingering concerns about the situation regarding football rights.

Utilities were well represented among the morning's losers, with REE, down, 0.26 at 29.30 and Fenosa 0.12 lower at 37.59 and

Repsol YPF was down 0.01 to 25.39 after Oddo Securities cut its stance to are duce' from 'add' citing valuation concerns.

Sol Melia was 0.55 lower at 15.30 after ING Bank said it will begin an accelerated bookbuilding offering of up to 6.5 pct of the hotel group with 'qualified investors' in Spain and overseas.

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