Helsinki shares flat at midday in mixed session

Helsinki shares flat at midday in mixed session

	Published : Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:58 By : Agencies Print this Story

HELSINKI (AFX) - Helsinki shares were flat in mixed midday trade, with marginal gains in some selected blue chips offset by losses in other groups of key stocks, traders said.

At 11.33 am, the OMX Helsinki 25 was 0.18 pct lower at 3,108.80 points and the OMX Helsinki was down 0.16 pct at 10,416.86 points on volume of just 156 mln eur.

Neste Oil -- 0.8 pct firmer at 25.12 eur -- was the biggest gainer among leading issues after it was upgraded to 'neutral' from 'sell' by Goldman Sachs in an European oil refining sector revision.

Outokumpu Technology added 0.51 pct to 27.54 eur after it said it has won a contract to install a converter and gas handling technology for the new copper smelter at Kazakhstan zinc producer Kazzinc for an undisclosed sum.

Nokia was down 0.23 pct at 17.31 eur.

Among industrials, Kone was 0.37 pct higher at 46.20 eur, Rautaruukki K shed 0.63 pct to 37.74 eur, while Metso was up 0.44 pct at 40.71 eur.

Outokumpu was 0.1 pct higher at 29.69 eur.

In its morning report, Carnegie said sector peer Posco may raise products prices from the second quarter if global demand remains strong.

Carnegie was citing the Korean steelmaker's CEO, speaking in the company's AGM. It quoted him as saying Posco is open to approaching other steel-related companies.

Paper stocks were mixed, with UPM-Kymmene down 0.1 pct to 19.98 eur, Stora Enso R 0.39 pct lower at 12.67 eur, while M-real B was unchanged at 5.61 eur.

Elsewhere, Ahlstrom was 0.37 pct higher at 21.98 eur after it said it has signed a letter of understanding with Brazil's Votorantim Celulose e Papel (VCP) to form a joint venture for specialty paper production in Brazil, but gave no financial details.

azer.sawiris@afxnews.com

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