Miners Fresnillo, Randgold rally on gold gains By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) — European stock markets turned slightly higher late in the day on Friday, after data showed consumer sentiment dropping in the U.S. The week has been largely lackluster, weighed by fears the Federal Reserve will begin paring back on its bond-buying program in September. A.P. Moller-Maersk AS soared on upbeat results, and mining stocks were lifted by recent metals price gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +0.30% rose 0.2% to 306.10 after a bruising prior-day session, which ended with a loss of more than 1%. U.S. stocks also fell sharply on Thursday after better-than-expected data, such as weekly jobless numbers, which heightened fears of imminent tapering of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program. “The volume is thin in the market today as investors are apprehensive ahead of the weekend due to a recent global market sell off and tapering talk,� said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, in emailed comments. “Despite the uneven data released recently, and [President of the St. Louis Fed Bank] Bullard’s comments, there are still more odds stacked that tapering will take place in September. My concern is not tapering, but the pace of the tapering which could certainly elevate the market volatility in the market.� Bullard has suggested that September may be too early for the Fed to start tapering. U.S. data out Friday including a bigger-than-expected jump in productivity and higher housing starts, but stocks rose in Europe after consumer sentiment data showed a slip. Wall Street stocks were fluctuating after two days of losses. Support for the Europe index came from heavyweight A.P. Moller-Maersk DK:MAERSKB +9.38% , which soared 9% after the Danish conglomerate posted better-than-expected earnings and lifted its full-year forecasts. Also pushing higher, mining stocks got a considerable boost after gold prices leaped 2% in the prior session. Gold is on track for a nearly 4% weekly gain, the strongest in weeks. Shares of Fresnillo PLC UK:FRES +4.53% rose 4% and Randgold Resources Ltd. UK:RRS +4.91% was up more than 4%. Read: Time to look at gold, silver, miners and ETFs? Among the decliners, shares of Deutsche Lufthansa AG DE:LHA -1.08% dropped close to 2% after Morgan Stanley cut shares to equal-weight from overweight. Analysts said multiples are still attractive for the airline group, but clear catalysts are lacking. Shares of STMicroelectronics NV STM -0.0012% fell 2% after HSBC cut shares to underweight from neutral. Analysts said increasing price pressure and a soft smartphone market is hurting its MEMs (micro electro mechanical system) chips business. Shares of Balfour Beatty PLC UK:BBY +9.38% jumped nearly 10%. The company said earlier in the week that half-year profit fell 70%, but that it could revive its weak U.K. construction business. The German DAX 30 index DX:DAX +0.17% was flat at 8,379.03, with auto stocks active. Shares of Volkswagen AG DE:VOW3 -1.40% fell 2.4%, while BMW AG DE:BMW +1.68% rose 1.4%. The French CAC 40 index FR:PX1 +0.65% was among the brighter spots, up 0.5% to 4,113.61, with shares of BNP Paribas SA FR:BNP +2.14% gaining 2%, Societe Generale SA FR:GLE +1.83% up 1.8% and AXA SA FR:CS +1.94% up close to 2%. The FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +0.20% was up 0.2% to 6,493.72. Read: Beware a false dawn for Europe stocks Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Follow her on Twitter @MWBarbaraKollmeyer.

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