Madrid shares higher early afternoon; Telefonica, Repsol YPF underperform

Madrid shares higher early afternoon; Telefonica, Repsol YPF underperform

	Published : Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:16 By : Agencies Print this Story

MADRID (AFX) - Share prices were higher in early afternoon trade, in line with Europe, with Telefonica and Repsol YPF underperforming the broad market, dealers said.

At 12.45 pm, the IBEX-35 index was up 53.9 points at 14,469.1, on volume of about 1.3 bln eur.

Equities opened little changed, moving higher in early deals after Friday's late recovery on Wall Street, but with losses in Telefonica and Repsol YPF weighing on broad sentiment.

Telefonica shed 0.07 eur to 16.61, in line with other European telecos after Deutsche Telekom's profit warning, while Repsol YPF lost 0.03 to 24.87, underperforming other major oils.

Among those seeing buying interest on upgrades, Iberia rose 0.1 or 3.3 pct to 3.09, after UBS upgraded its stance to 'buy' from 'neutral', and Merrill Lynch hiked its target price to 3.50 eur per share from a previous 2.70.

Inditex added 0.53 to 41.53, after UBS upgraded it to 'buy' from 'neutral' on valuation grounds and on the back of positive H&M earnings released last week.

Acerinox rose 0.26 to 20.59, buoyed by a bullish 2007-08 outlook on investments and acquisitions provided by the group's chairman in the local press.

Builders were also in the black, with Acciona up 1.1 at 154.60, Grupo Ferrovial 0.60 higher at 75.10 and ACS adding 0.04 to 41.79.

FCC put on 0.75 to 79.65 after Caja Madrid's chairman said the companies' Realia joint venture will list 49 pct of capital in May. OHL put on 1.55 or 5.65 pct to 29.00, as investors await the Friday acceptance deadline of the bid launched by OHL's chairman.

Among smaller caps, Vocento was down 0.10 at 14.95, after UBS started coverage with a 'neutral' stance, with a price target at 14.90.

Main banks were higher, with SCH up 0.12 at 14.39, ahead of its full year to December results due out Thursday, and BBVA 0.07 higher at 19.07, ahead of its results due out Wednesday.

Focus continued on those companies embroiled in the bidding war for Endesa, extending Friday's losses to slip 0.02 to 38.67, as expectations mount that Gas Natural will pull out of the ring for a takeover, opening the way for E.ON.

Gas Natural dropped 0.34 to 30.79.

Antena 3 fell 0.08 at 17.22. Earlier, Goldman Sachs removed the company from its 'conviction sell' list.

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