Lisbon shares close flat on weak Wall St, PTM slump; PT outperforms UPDATE

Lisbon shares close flat on weak Wall St, PTM slump; PT outperforms UPDATE

	Published : Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:38 By : Agencies Print this Story

Updates with full report

LISBON (Thomson Financial) - Shares close slightly flat, and off earlier highs in moderate trade, with a late slump in PTM and a weak Wall Street erasing earlier gains, though PT continued to outperform from its readjusted ex-PTM rights price.

The PSI 20 index closed up 3.92 points at 12,987.47 after trading in a range of 12,979-13,088.

Equities opened higher and climbed to session highs after the first hour, but pared gains during the rest of the morning to midday.

Stocks continued to pare gains over the afternoon, pressured by an expected weak start on Wall Street, which was confirmed, erasing most of the session's gains to the close.

PT surged 0.35 eur or 3.98 pct to 9.15 from its 8.80 eur adjusted price ex-rights to PTM shares as market sources said investors wanting the stock had focused on the tax benefits of selling the stock ahead of the spin off and buying it back today.

This morning, Euronext Lisbon adjusted PT's share price to 8.80 eur from the 10.53 eur they closed at yesterday to reflect the effective spin off the company's 58 pct stake in PTM to its shareholders, at the rate of 0.1760 PTM shares for every PT share they held.

PTM dropped 0.59 or 6.00 pct to 9.24, with dealers highlighting possible fears of the new shares from the spin-off flooding the market.

Also in the telecoms sector, Sonaecom gained 0.07 or 1.83 pct to 3.89, but off a high of 3.96, as analysts praised the company's positive nine-months results, highlighting performances at its Optimus mobile and Sonaecom Fixed divisions.

Earlier, Sonaecom Chief Operating Officer Luis Reis said a tie up between Sonaecom and peer PTM could be positive, given the two companies' complementary networks, but with PTM currently trading at a multiple of around 40 times EBITDA, its share price cannot be justified.

Conglomerate Sonae climbed 0.02 to 2.00, tracking gains in Sonaecom, in which it has a 50.1 pct stake.

Among banks, BPI fell 0.07 to 6.25, extending yesterday's losses on expectations it will have to raise its one-for-two share swap bid for BCP.

After the close, BCP's board announced that it rejects BPI's bid under its current terms, confirming expectations in the market.

BCP was flat at 3.43 ahead of reporting that net profit fell to 403.7 mln eur in the nine months to September from 556.9 mln eur a year earlier, missing estimates for 423-438 mln.

jonathan.gleave@thomson.com

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