AFX European summary

AFX European summary - midday

	Published : Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:49 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (AFX) -

AFX European summary - midday

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares slipped to their session lows at midday, with weakness across the insurance sector and indications of cautious start on Wall Street outweighing strong gains by Corus, dealers said.

By 12.10 pm, the FTSE 100 index was 27.70 points lower at 6,214.3, falling back from its early high of 6,257.3, while broader-based indices were slightly lower.

Volume was hefty, with 756.8 mln shares changing hands in 73,324 deals, swelled by sizeable trade in Corus after its board endorsed Tata Steel's 608 pence per share bid.

FRANKFURT (AFX) - German shares were slightly lower in mid-morning trade, as investors awaited the Fed decision and its outlook for the US economy later today, dealers said.

At 11.27 am, the DAX was down 24.59 points or 0.36 pct at 6,763.64 after trading between 6,711.05 and 6,781.00 throughout the day.

PARIS (AFX) - Share prices moved lower at midday as investors consolidated positions ahead of sales data due out this week and held tight ahead of the FOMC's announcement on interest rates today.

At 12.38 pm the CAC-40 index was down 27.59 points or 0.49 pct at 5,618.80, on volume of 2.1 bln eur.

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Shares in Amsterdam were lower around midday, mirroring lower Dow futures, while Corus soared following last night's bidding auction, dealers said.

At 1.04 pm, the AEX was 2.49 points or 0.50 pct lower at 500.34 after opening at 502 and reaching an earlier low of 499.46.

MILAN (AFX) - Share prices were flat at midday, ahead of the FOMC meeting on US interest rates, with gains in Terna after its business plan announcement offsetting falls in Bulgari on disappointing sales data, brokers said.

At 12.35 pm, the Mibtel index was up 0.05 pct at 32,520 points, and the S&P/Mib gained 0.05 pct to 42,311.

MADRID (AFX) - Share prices were lower midsession as the main blue chips saw sellers ahead of the Fed's rate decision and outlook, while Ferrovial and Acerinox bucked the weak trend, dealers said.

At 1.01 pm, the IBEX-35 index fell 76.9 points to 14,476.2, after trading in a range of 14,450-14,554, on turnover of 1.9 bln eur.

STOCKHOLM (AFX) - Shares were slightly lower in late morning trade on profit-taking, with specialty steel maker SSAB however sharply outperforming in the wake of Tata Steel's high winning bid for Corus, dealers said.

At 11.05 am, the OMX Stockholm index was down 0.35 pct at 386.26, with the OMX Stockholm 30 down 0.49 pct at 1,184.47.

HELSINKI (AFX) - Shares were lower in midday trade, led down by Nokia and Fortum after the latter posted a consensus-missing fourth-quarter report this morning, brokers said.

At 11.55 am, the OMX Helsinki 25 was 0.45 pct lower at 2,994.74 points and the OMX Helsinki was down 0.42 pct at 10,067.63 points.