Vodafone Group downgraded at UBS; Q-Cells shares drop
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Gains from banks and mineral extractors helped European shares gain for a second straight session on Tuesday.
ST:SXXP 203.10, +2.30, +1.15%
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The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 203.10, +2.30, +1.15%) advanced 0.6% to 201.91.
Banks advanced on Monday and were also higher on Tuesday ahead of second-quarter earnings reports for the sector. U.S. banking group Goldman Sachs reports results later Tuesday.
KBC (BE:KBC 11.41, +0.63, +5.84%) shares climbed 5.8%, Barclays (UK:BARC 303.20, +6.95, +2.34%) (BCS 19.47, +0.83, +4.45%) shares rose 2% and BNP Paribas (FR:BNP 47.51, +1.07, +2.30%) shares rose 1.6%.
Mineral extractors moving higher included Xstrata (UK:XTA 610.40, +28.00, +4.80%) , up 3.4%, and Antofagasta (UK:ANTO 605.00, +18.00, +3.07%) , up 2.4%.
On a regional level, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 4,234, +32.16, +0.77%) rose 0.2% to 4,210.60, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 4,764, +40.91, +0.87%) also advanced 0.2% to 4,730.80 while the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,068, +16.38, +0.54%) traded flat at 3,052.24.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a flat open on Wall Street after shares gained ground on Monday. Asian equity markets were higher. Read more on Asia.
Still, shares of telecom firm Vodafone Group (UK:VOD 112.55, -2.45, -2.13%) (VOD 18.76, +0.26, +1.41%) fell 1.6% after UBS downgraded the firm to neutral from buy.
The broker said that, given its expectation for poor key performance indicators and cuts to consensus estimates, it was introducing a short-term sell rating.
"Economic pressures, market shares loss and exchange rates have combined to put pressure on our earnings estimates for Vodafone," the broker said.
Q-Cells (DE:QCE 11.72, -1.62, -12.14%) shares fell 12.1% in Frankfurt.
The solar-cell maker said that it expects to report second-quarter revenue of 142 million euros ($198.5 million), down from 225 million euros in the previous quarter, and a loss before interest and tax of 62 million euros, compared to a profit of 15 million euros.
Lower sales volumes, postponement of a large scale project to the third quarter and the continued downward trend in solar-cell prices hit results, the firm said. The drop in cell and wafer prices has also led to non-cash devaluations of current assets, it added.
The firm said that it now won't be able to attain anticipated fiscal-year revenue and production levels.
Shares of Software AG (DE:SOW 47.20, -2.89, -5.77%) declined 3.6% after it said that it plans to take over German peer IDS Scheer (DE:IDS 14.95, +4.19, +38.94%) . It offered 15 euros a share in a deal worth up to 482 million euros.
