Danish shares close higher, led up by Norden, Demant; Carlsberg lower UPDATE

Danish shares close higher, led up by Norden, Demant; Carlsberg lower UPDATE

	Published : Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:24 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updating with full report)

COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) - Share prices closed higher, led up by DS Norden on further rises in bulk transport rates, and by William Demant Holding, while Carlsberg fell after Scottish & Newcastle rejected a 720 pence a share bid by Carlsberg and Heineken, and Novozymes was also lower, dealers said.

The OMXC20 index closed 3.04 points higher at 497.62 and the OMXCB Benchmark index rose 2.57 points to 477.18.

The OMXC All Share index closed 2.67 points higher at 487.39 on turnover of 4.99 bln dkr.

DS Norden closed 15 dkr higher at 679 after rising bulk transport freight rates pushed the Baltic Dry Index about 11,000 points for the first time, dealers said.

AP Moller-Maersk A rose 400 to 69,200 and the B-shares added 400 to 70,000. According to RB-Boersen, the group's APM Terminals is buying 51 pct of the Alinport container terminal project in Ecuador.

Sentiment for technology stocks was positive after Microsoft said late Thursday its profit jumped 23 pct, which helped lift Danish tech stocks.

William Demant Holding was up 17 at 467.5, extending recent gains.

Vestas Wind Systems was down 3 at 461, reversing earlier gains after Goldman Sachs cut the stock to 'neutral' from 'buy' late in the session, and removed it from its 'conviction buy' list, dealers said.

GN Store Nord was 0.25 higher, while FLSmidth fell 3 to 553 and NKT Holding shed 4 to 554.

Carlsberg B ended the day 10 lower at 678. Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) yesterday rejected a bid for the company by Carlsberg and Heineken. The Danish and Dutch breweries are expected to eventually win control over S&N, but the 720 pence per share bid they launched yesterday for Britain's largest brewer will have to be increased, analysts said.

Peer brewer Royal Unibrew rose 2 to 650.

Novozymes was down 21 at 584, extending yesterday's losses after the group posted nine-months results slightly below market expectations.

Danisco rose 1 to 401.

Danske Bank added 6.25 to 212.25. The group is expected to report next Tuesday a third-quarter pretax profit of 4.536 bln dkr, down 23 pct from a year earlier on rising costs and lower net income from trading and insurance, according to a survey of analysts by SME Direkt.

Net interest income is seen increasing 8 pct from a year earlier, but total income is expected to fall 3 pct to 10.811 bln dkr. Total costs are seen at 6.073 bln dkr, up 12 pct year-on-year.

Topdanmark shed 3 to 880, while TrygVesta was unchanged at 410.

Novo Nordisk B added 6 to 618. The group is expected to report a third-quarter pretax profit next Wednesday of 2.734 bln dkr, up 8 pct from a year earlier, according to a survey of analysts by RB Boersen.

Operating profit is seen rising 6 pct to 2.657 bln dkr, while sales are expected to increase 11 pct to 10.677 bln dkr

Lifecycle Pharma was up 1 at 47.5 after it announced positive interim phase II trial results for its drug candidate LCP-Tacro, a medication which prevents organ rejection in kidney transplant patients.

Lundbeck fell 1.25 to 146 and Coloplast shed 2 to 501.

michael.delaine@thomson.com

mdl/ak

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