Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 8th March 2022

The Daily European Equity Opening News is uploaded at 0700GMT/0200EST recapping all of the overnight equity news.

From 0700GMT/0200EST all equity news will be covered in real-time over the audio and headline feed and the full audio rundown will be at 0715GMT/0215EST.

There will be an additional audio rundown at 0750GMT/0250EST recapping any company news which has hit the wires since 0715GMT/0215EST ahead of the European equity open

European equity coverage will only cover companies in the STOXX 600 or companies of systemic importance to particular sectors.

ASIA

Asian equity markets were mostly negative amid headwinds from global counterparts including in the US where the S&P 500 and DJIA posted their worst performance YTD in which the former finished with losses of around 3% for its worst day since October 2020. In addition, the Nasdaq closed in a technical bear market following similar fates for both the Eurostoxx 50 and Dax as focus remained on geopolitical concerns with little progress made in the third round of Russian-Ukraine talks and amid oil supply concerns as US and allies discuss an embargo on Russian oil, while several Wall St names also downgraded their S&P 500 targets. Asia-Pac stocks were pressured at the open with the ASX 200 (-0.8%) led lower by weakness in the commodity-related sectors including energy after oil prices receded from yesterday’s highs. Nikkei 225 (-1.8%) fell below the 25k level for the first time since November 2020 before briefly turning positive intraday although failed to sustain the rebound, while the KOSPI (-0.9%) was subdued ahead of tomorrow’s presidential election and with recent satellite images showing construction at North Korea’s nuclear test site which is its first activity since 2018. Hang Seng (-0.6%) and Shanghai Comp. (-1.4%) conformed to the broad risk aversion although Hong Kong was initially cushioned by some reprieve for big tech although and with the mainland pressured amid developers woes including Yuzhou Property after it defaulted on an interest payment.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: EURO STOXX 50 -1.2% at 3,512, FTSE 100 -0.4% at 6,959, DAX 40 -2.0% at 12,834, CAC 40 -1.3% at 5,982, FTSE MIB -1.4% at 22,160, IBEX 35 -1.0% at 7,644, SMI -0.8% at 11,208.

DAX 40 and Euro Stoxx 50 indices closed in a technical bear market.

SECTORS: Energy 4.27%, Technology 0.25%, Basic Materials 0.19%, Utilities -0.08%, Healthcare -0.44%, Industrials -0.97%, Telecoms -1.13%, Consumer Goods -2.14%, Consumer Services -2.62%, Financial Services -2.70%

FTSE 100

BHP (BHP LN)/ Glencore (GLEN LN)/ Anglo American (AAL LN) - LME nickel surged overnight above USD 100,000/t amid a short squeeze induced by Russia-Ukraine.

BHP (BHP LN) - CEO sees lower growth this year due to inflation. (Newswires)

Glencore (GLEN LN) - France's Aluminium Dunkerque says it agrees to sell some of its Aluminium to Glencore from 2023, will supply a portion of its Alumina needs from 2023. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

ITV (ITV LN) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

BROKER MOVES

Travis Perkins (TPK LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

DAX

Adidas (ADS GY) - Co. has suspended operations in Russia until further notice. Separately, replaced Thomas, head of its Greater China operations, Siu will take the role from April. (Newswires/FT)

Fresenius (FRE GY) - Fresenius Kabi has issued a voluntary recall of sodium acetate injection USP. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Hugo Boss (BOSS GY) - Frasers group has announced an increased investment in the Co. with a total exposure of around EUR 475mln. (Newswires)

Scout24 (G24 GY) - Co. has launched a EUR 350mln share buyback programme. (Newswires)

Uniper (UN01 GY) - Co. is to take a EUR 987mln impairment charge in relation to loans for Nord Stream 2. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - CEO said Europe does not have the LNG import capacity for replace Russian gas. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Auto/Industrial Names - LME nickel surged overnight above USD 100,000/t amid a short squeeze induced by Russia-Ukraine.

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Maersk (MAERSKB DC) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

Nokian (TYRES FH) downgraded to Hold from Buy at DNB Markets

US

CLOSES: S&P 500 -2.9% at 4,202, Nasdaq 100 -3.8% at 13,319, Dow Jones -2.4% at 32,817, Russell 2000 -2.0% at 1,952.

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary -4.8%, Communication Services -3.7%, Technology -3.7%, Financials -3.7%, Materials -3.4%, Industrials -2.7%, Consumer Staples -1.9%, Real Estate -1.8%, Health -1.7%, Utilities +1.3%, Energy +1.6%.

Google (GOOGL) is reportedly in talks to acquire Mandiant (MNDT), a USD 4.5bln cybersecurity firm, according to The Information. (The Information)

RUSSIA-EXPOSED EUROPEAN STOCKS

EUROPEAN COMPANIES WITH STAKES IN RUSSIAN FIRMS

Source: Goldman Sachs/GoogleOrder: Descending market cap

• 
  Shell (SHEL LN) - (Energy) Has a stake of around 28% stake in Gazprom-operated Sakhalin-2 LNG project. [Announced the exit of Gazprom entities (Mar 1)]
  


• 
  TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - (Energy) Exposed via its partnerships with Russian nat gas producers Novatek and Yamal LNG. [Holds presence in Russia but announced no further investments (Mar 1)]
  


• 
  Prosus (PRX AV) - (Tech) Co. owns Avito, a Russian classified advertisements website.


• 
  BP (BP/ LN) - (Energy) Exposed via its 20% stake in Rosneft. [Announced sale of stake with potential hit of USD 25bln (Feb 27)]
  


• 
  Equinor (EQNR NO) - (Energy) Owns minority stakes in three oilfields in Russia.


• 
  Glencore (GLEN LN) - (Basic Resources) Owns a 0.6% stake in Rosneft and 10.5% in Anglo-Russian green energy and metals company EN+.


• 
  OMV (OMV AV) - (Energy) Exposed via the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field. [No longer pursuing investments in Russia (Mar 7)]


• 
  Tenaris (TEN IM) - (Energy) Exposed via a pipeline deal it owns 49% interest in.


• 
  Renault (RNO FP) - (Auto & Parts) 6% of Renault's revenue and 15% of EBIT comes from its ownership of AvtoVAZ - Russian automobile manufacturing company.


• 
  Alstom (ALO FP) - (Industrial) Has a 20% stake in Russia's largest rail manufacturer - Transmasholdings.

EUROPEAN COMPANIES WITH RUSSIAN SALES EXPOSURE ABOVE 20%

• 
  VEON (VEON AV) (Telecom) 48%


• 
  Polymetal (POLY LN) (Basic Materials) 42%


• 
  EVRAZ (EVR LN) (Basic Materials) 38%


• 
  Uniper (UN01 GY) (Utilities) 25%


• 
  Fortum (FORTUM FH) (Utilities) 25%


• 
  NOKIAN (TYRES FH) (Autos) 21%

08 Mar 2022 - 06:48- EquitiesGeopolitical- Source: Newsquawk