CRH shares shake off early weakness; Persimmon also higher
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Shares in Europe shook off some early uncertainty on Tuesday to trade higher for the first time in four sessions, helped by gains for metal stocks and banks.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 203.41, +1.71, +0.85%) traded up 0.6% at 202.80. The index closed lower in the last three sessions.
Of regional equity markets, the commodity-heavy U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 4,238, +42.76, +1.02%) advanced 0.8% to 4,227.25, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 4,701, +49.74, +1.07%) rose 0.6% to 4,680.29 and the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,110, +28.14, +0.91%) traded up 0.5% at 3,098.38.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lackluster start on Wall Street on Tuesday, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down 5 points. Asia markets were mixed. Read more on Asia.
Metal stocks had a poor session on Monday but saw some buying on Tuesday in Europe. Shares of copper miner Vedanta Resources (UK:VED 1,357, +58.00, +4.46%) were up 3.8% and platinum producer Lonmin's (UK:LMI 1,103, +43.00, +4.06%) shares were up 3.6%.
Rio Tinto (UK:RIO 1,955, +70.00, +3.71%) (RTP 148.23, -10.26, -6.47%) shares rose 3.7% and BHP Billiton (UK:BLT 1,325, +38.50, +2.99%) (BHP 50.71, -2.87, -5.36%) shares climbed 2.8%.
Banks, another sector also perceived as closely tied to economic growth, also advanced, with HSBC Holdings (UK:HSBA 515.35, +9.20, +1.82%) (HBC 41.46, +0.22, +0.53%) up 1.4% and Santander (ES:SAN 8.54, +0.18, +2.15%) (STD 11.80, +0.05, +0.43%) shares up 1.4%.
Recent data on the economy has been patchy and that trend continued on Tuesday, with manufacturing output and industrial production data from the U.K. posting unexpected declines in May.
CRH in the frame
Building-material suppliers moved off early lows to trade higher on Tuesday, with shares of Irish firm CRH (UK:CRH 16.21, +0.95, +6.23%) up 6%.
The firm said that, although second-half profitability will be lower than in 2008, the rate of decline is expected to improve compared with the first half of the year.
It said that first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization are expected to be 40% lower than the 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) it reported at the same point a year ago.
Competitors Saint Gobain (FR:SGO 23.45, +0.72, +3.17%) advanced 2.1% in Paris and Wolseley (UK:WOS 1,146, +30.00, +2.69%) shares rose 3.2% in London.
Shares of Persimmon (UK:PSN 380.25, +16.75, +4.61%) , the first of several U.K. builders to report updates this week, advanced 4.4%.
Persimmon on Tuesday said second-half orders are up 8% from the same period last year and are 53% higher than the end of 2008, helping to take the sting away from a 37% drop in first-half revenue.
