Amsterdam shares close unchanged in quiet half day ahead of New Year UPDATE

Amsterdam shares close unchanged in quiet half day ahead of New Year UPDATE

	Published : Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:14 By : Agencies Print this Story

(updating with full report)

AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - Shares in Amsterdam closed almost flat after a low volume half day of trade, as investors adjusted portfolios ahead of the New Year, market sources said.

The AEX closed up just 0.08 of a point, or 0.02 pct, at 515.77, after opening at 516.06 and trading in the 515.07-516.32 range.

Government bonds traded flat to mixed, while the euro stood at 1.4718 usd compared to 1.4701 eur late Friday.

Shares in Corporate Express led the AEX, soaring 7.65 pct to 5.35 eur amid speculation the company could become an M&A target in the New Year and on bargain hunting after the stock was hit hard this year, market sources said.

Among gainers, Unibail-Rodamco was up 2.41 pct to 149.50, Wolters Kluwer went 1.58 pct higher to 22.48 and SBM Offshore added 1.55 pct to 21.60.

Fellow oil heavyweight Royal Dutch Shell meanwhile closed 0.21 pct lower at 28.75.

Randstad was up 1.39 pct at 27.02 eur after news on Friday night it is making good progress on its bid for Vedior and expects to launch its offer in March. Vedior traded 0.06 pct higher to 17.22.

Among tech related issues, Philips added 0.07 pct at 29.52 eur as it said it will book a fourth quarter net gain of about 530 mln eur on proceeds of 980 mln eur from the sale of 800 mln common TSMC shares. On the midcap, ASMI led gainers, putting on 2.90 pct at 16.32.

Van der Moolen was up 2.87 pct to 2.87, BAM advanced 1.84 pct to 16.08, and Vopak went up 1.37 pct to 38.54.

Local stock Sligro went up 3.08 pct to 26.80 eur ahead of its full-year sales figures on Thursday.

Spyker Cars put on 1.23 pct to 4.13 eur amid news founder and newly reinstated CEO Victor Muller reduced his stake in the company to 8.76 pct from 14.81 pct.

Aegon gave up earlier gains to lead AEX decliners, down 0.74 pct to 12.09 eur amid news the banking group finalised its partnership with Merrill Lynch and completed the acquisition of Merrill Lynch's life insurance operations.

Financials kept the AEX in negative territory, with ING off 0.11 pct to 26.75 and Fortis falling 0.71 pct to 18.08.

Heavyweights Unilever slid 0.51 pct to 25.15.

Heineken was off 0.09 pct to 44.22 as the consortium it leads with Carlsberg falls under increased pressure to raise its bid for Scottish & Newcastle PLC ahead of a UK Takeover Panel deadline and after S&N's chief executive opened the possibility of talks with the consortium if it significantly raised its takeover bid, analysts said.

Decliners on the midcap were few. CSM shed 1.95 pct to 23.10 and Wereldhave lost 0.32 pct to 74.72.

Local issue Kardan fell 0.95 pct to 11.50 eur amid the company saying it raised 280 mln eur through a sale and credit agreement with Israel Discount Bank Ltd over its subsidiary KFS.

cornelia.messing@thomson.com

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