Lisbon shares up midday boosted by heavyweights BCP, PT; Mota Engil down

Lisbon shares up midday boosted by heavyweights BCP, PT; Mota Engil down

	Published : Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:19 By : Agencies Print this Story

LISBON (Thomson Financial) - Shares were higher, outperforming major European markets, thanks to gains in heavyweights BCP and Portugal Telecom, while Mota Engil lead fallers on profit taking.

At 11.49 am, the PSI 20 index was up 34.44 points at 13,407.95.

Equities opened slightly lower after losses on Wall Street overnight but quickly turned higher, boosted by BCP. However, they edged into negative territory midmorning, before climbing into positive ground in the run up to midday.

Heavyweight BCP gained 0.07 eur or 1.71 pct to 4.17, extending its recent rally, on ongoing stake hikes by key shareholders amid reports of a power struggle at the bank between chief executive Teixeira Pinto and chairman Jorge Jardim Goncalves.

'It's the same old story, same as in the last few weeks, BCP is rising because investors are increasing their stakes, due to the internal power struggle,' said Lisbon-based trader at a leading Portuguese bank.

He added that press reports today indicating that shareholders close to Teixeira Pinto want to change the bank's governance model add to BCP's strength.

Portugal Telecom edged up 0.01 to 10.28, coming back from losses earlier in the session after HSBC cut the telecom group's target price to 9.00 eur per share from 10.5, reiterating its 'underweight' stance.

Meanwhile, blue chip EDP was flat at 4.11. Italy's Enel chief executive Fulvio Conti confirmed yesterday that Enel and Spain's Union Fenosa's renewables joint venture Eufer, together with EDP, will present a binding offer for Danish utility Dong's renewable assets in Spain.

Portucel edged up 0.01 to 2.86. Analysts deemed positive for the paper and pulp producer reports that UWF paper producers are mulling a possible third price increase this year and have healthy order books.

Portucel's parent company Semapa, was up 0.08 at 12.64.

Mota Engil, the biggest faller of the session, shed 0.15 or 1.85 pct to 7.95 on profit taking after recent heavy gains on the back of the IPO of its affiliate Martifer, which was heavily oversubscribed.

luis.morais@thomson.com

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