The majority of S&P Euro 75 index constituents were down last week in a flakey few days for stock markets
The falls were driven largely by worse-than-expected first quarter results in the banking sector and continuing concerns about the US economy recovery.
Nevertheless, 27 companies in the index – which is made up of the Eurozones most liquid blue-chip names – posted weekly gains.
The top five risers were: Merk (Germany/health care), ThyssenKrupp (Germany/materials); Sanofi-Aventis (France/health care); Man AG (Germany/industrials); Koninklijke Philips Electronics (Netherlands/industrials).
The top five fallers were: Vivendi (France/consumer discretionary); E.ON (Germany/utilities); Telefonica (Spain/telecommunication services); Nokia (Finland/IT); Lafarge (France/materials).
Kirsty Knight, director, index operations at S&P Indices, said the best performing market was the Netherlands, while Spain was the worst performing market.
“All energy stocks fell, reflecting global market concerns about rising crude oil prices. Of the other sectors, the consumer staples sector was the best performing.”
Thyssen Krupp benefited investors’ positive reaction to its announcement of a restructure and spin-off of the company’s stainless steel unit.
But Nokia shares fell 4.66% over the week. According to research published by IDC this week, they were overtaken as the leading cell phone maker in the Western European region,” said Knight.
©2011 funds europe
