Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 3rd January 2024

3rd January 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly lower as sentiment reverberated from Wall Street's downbeat performance despite the lack of a clear driver, while Japanese markets were away on a market holiday. ASX 200 saw the deepest losses in gold names following the recent surge in the Dollar, while Tech also lagged, mimicking the sectoral performance on Wall Street. KOSPI extended its downside with semiconductor names among the biggest losers - Samsung Electronics tumbled 3% at one point. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed with the former's losses led by large-cap Hong Kong stocks also listed in the US (JD.com -4.2%, Baidu -3.0%, Alibaba -2.7%), while Mainland China fluctuated between modest gains and losses, but was ultimately cushioned by stimulus speculation in Chinese press.

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Reportedly aims to raise up to USD 1bln in a USD bond transaction, according to sources cited by Reuters. Has mandated banks for a potential dollar bond deal, according to term sheet cited by Reuters (Reuters)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX +0.11% at 16,769.36, FTSE 100 -0.15% at 7,721.52, CAC 40 -0.16% at 7,530.86, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.21% at 4,511.95, AEX -0.47% at 783.11, IBEX 35 +0.79% at 10,182.10, FTSE MIB +0.57% at 30,524.63.

SECTORS: Energy 0.61%, Healthcare 0.55%, Telecoms 0.54%, Financials 0.33%, Consumer Stpl 0.03%, Materials -0.24%, Utilities -0.27%, Consumer Disc -0.44%, Industrials -0.51%, IT -1.74%

FTSE 100

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Cruise Names, Carnival Corp (CCL LN) - China's maiden voyage of the 135.5k-tonne Adora Magic City, its first domestically built large cruise ship, a moment hailed by authorities keen to chip away at the dominance of European shipbuilders in the cruise sector, FT reports. The venture was between China State Shipbuilding Corp and Carnival Corp. (FT)

THG (THG LN) - Co. has backed a non-executive director, whose re-election has faced opposition by more than 20% of its shareholders, according to The Times. (The Times)

BROKER MOVES

AstraZeneca (AZN LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

Burberry (BRBY LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

GSK (GSK LN) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Awarded 553MW in wind farm orders in Sweden. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - Is said to be working on a EUR 1.8bln bid for Atos' (ATO FP) cybersecurity unit, according to FT; other bidders could still enter the frame, according to sources. Subsequently, Atos says ongoing exclusive negotiations with EPEI on the sale of Tech foundations with no certainty of an agreement being reached. Does not rule out the sale of other assets well in excess of EUR 400mln in order to meet financing maturities. To open due diligence phase with Airbus, of which Airbus has an indicative offer of an enterprise value of EUR 1.5-1.8bln. (FT/Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Sanofi (SAN FP) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research

PAN EUROPE

BROKER MOVES

ABN AMRO (ABN NA) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC

KBC (KBC BB) upgraded to Buy from Hold at HSBC

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Roche (ROG SW) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Tele2 (TEL2B SS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Handelsbanken

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.57% at 4,742, NDX -1.68% at 16,543, DJI +0.07% at 37,715, RUT -0.70% at 2,012.

SECTORS: Technology -2.58%, Industrials -0.95%, Communication Services -0.91%, Consumer Discretionary -0.92%, Materials -0.2%, Financials +0.39%, Real Estate +0.93%, Energy +1.19%, Consumer Staples +1.15%, Utilities +1.38%, Health +1.76%.

03 Jan 2024 - 06:47- EquitiesExclusive- Source: Newsquawk