Madrid shares flat midsession; Inditex down on lacklustre outlook, Iberia up

Madrid shares flat midsession; Inditex down on lacklustre outlook, Iberia up

	Published : Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:26 By : Agencies Print this Story

MADRID (AFX) - Share prices were little changed in brisk midsession trade, with Inditex seeing profit-taking on lacklustre full-year results and outlook, while Iberia spiked up on fresh consolidation talk, dealers said.

At 12.45 pm, the IBEX-35 index had put on 26.8 points to 14,350.8, after trading in a range of 14,275-14,358, on turnover of 1.8 bln eur.

Equities opened slightly higher but quickly dropped into negative territory as selected blue chips saw some profit-taking, with investors cautious ahead of the outcome of the US Fed meeting.

Inditex was one of today's main losers, down 0.69 eur or 1.52 pct at 44.85, after a broadly in-line set of full-year to January results and a lacklustre conference call, which failed to provide the expected improved guidance to the retailer's cost efficiency plan.

The other main protagonist today was Iberia, up 0.03 at 3.61, but off a high of 3.80, on fresh bid talk, once again with Lufthansa in the frame.

The main blue chips were mixed, with Telefonica up 0.07 at 16.26, after an upgrade at Merrill Lynch to buy from neutral, while BBVA put on 0.17 to 18.25 and SCH was 0.01 higher at 13.48.

Endesa fell 0.06 to 38.59 and Repsol YPF was off 0.11 at 23.98.

Abengoa was one of today's main second line gainers, up 1.63 at 31.13, while fellow renewables company Gamesa had put on 0.07 to 24.36, extending yesterday's gains. Avanzit had risen 0.15 to 7.01.

Cintra had put on 0.04 to 13.51, after providing an update on its 2007-2008 pipeline, while Altadis added 0.25 to 47.25, as investors await further news from Imperial Tobacco about its bid interest.

ACS was off 0.16 at 43.89, while amongst other builders, FCC fell 0.20 to 75.40 and Ferrovial was down 0.10 at 74.25.

tfn.europemadrid@thomson.com

jr/ped/ccs/jsa

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited