Amsterdam shares slightly higher at midday; Hagemeyer leads

Amsterdam shares slightly higher at midday; Hagemeyer leads

	Published : Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:12 By : Agencies Print this Story

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Amsterdam shares traded slightly higher around midday with Hagemeyer in the lead on a favourable comparison to a French peer going public, dealers said.

At 12.50 pm, the AEX was up 1.79 points or 0.36 pct at 500.04 after opening at 497.94, reaching a high of 500.46 and a low of 497.93.

Government bonds were up and the euro stood at 1.3295 usd compared to 1.3291 late yesterday.

Hagemeyer led blue-chip gainers, adding 3.17 pct at 3.58 on a favourable comparison by analysts to market peer Rexel, which announced an indicative price range of 16.35-19.00 eur for its initial public offering today.

DSM climbed 1.16 pct to 33.88, while TomTom gained 1.11 at 30.88.

Oil shares were up ahead of US oil reserves data, which is expected to show a fall of gasoline stocks last week. Royal Dutch Shell advanced 0.75 pct at 24.27 and SBM Offshore gained 0.56 pct at 26.95.

Heat generated earlier in the week by merger talks between ABN Amro and Barclays seemed to cool a little, with ABN Amro flat at 31.00 eur.

Among other financials, Fortis was up 0.53 pct at 32.33, ING was 0.61 pct higher at 31.54 eur after a sector upgrade at Goldman Sachs, and Aegon rose 0.40 pct at 15.02.

Wolters Kluwer made a slight 0.09 pct gain at 22.50, amid news Fitch Ratings said the company's proposed sale of its education business is not likely to affect the group's credit rating.

Numico led AEX decliners, falling 0.72 pct to 38.71 amid news it was buying shares to claim the remaining 1.3 pct stake of Indonesia's Sari Husada for an estimated 14.1 mln eur.

Unilever lost 0.56 pct at 21.37 and ASML shed 0.61 pct to 17.92.

Nutreco led midcap gainers, rising 4.92 pct at 54.60, amid renewed speculation that rival animal nutrition group Provimi might announce its intention to launch a takeover bid when it reports its full year figures after market close today.

Univar accelerated 3.46 pct at 42.74, as the market welcomed news the Dutch chemicals group had reached a deal to buy Chemcentral in the US for an improved offer price of 650 mln usd, getting Chemcentral to walk away from a competing bid of 700 mln from Brenntag.

BAM rose 3.29 pct at 16.03, one day ahead of its full-year results.

Wessanen led midcap decliners, dropping 0.18 pct to 11.07. CSM dipped 0.15 pct at 26.25.

dave.vanginhoven@thomson.com

dvg/cmr

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