European stock markets remained mostly stable on Monday as new company earnings reports came out. For example, reports were released by the liquefied natural gas (LNG) company GTT and the Dutch firm PostNL.
However, the stock of the drinks maker Campari fell after the company became involved in a tax evasion investigation.The main pan-European STOXX 600 index stayed firm at 572.29 points, remaining near the low point it reached last week.
Shares of GTT rose by 4.3% after the French company, which specializes in LNG storage systems, increased its expected annual revenue and profit. The overall oil and gas sector was the best performer, jumping 1.1%.
The energy sector got an extra boost as BP’s stock climbed 1.7% after the UK company announced it would sell off parts of its US oil and gas business for $1.5 billion.
In contrast, Campari’s stock slid 4% after Italian tax police seized shares worth $1.29 billion euros from a holding company that controls the drinks group, alleging tax evasion.
Also, PostNL dropped almost 4% after the Dutch postal company reported a bigger quarterly operating loss than analysts expected. The company blamed this on increasing pressure on its mail business as the amount of mail decreases and revenue becomes focused on just a few large customers.
On the FX front, the US dollar remained strong on Monday, staying near its highest value in three months. Investors were waiting for important economic data this week to figure out how healthy the US economy is and whether that information might make the Federal Reserve change its current plan, which is to keep interest rates high. The dollar’s overall value against other major currencies held steady at 99.73, close to its highest point since August.
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen remained weak, near an eight-and-a-half-month low. This is because there is a large difference in interest rates between the U.S. and Japan. The yen was also near its lowest value ever against the euro, trading at 177.86 per euro.
The New Zealand dollar was close to a six-and-a-half-month low, last trading at 0.5730. The Australian dollar managed to rise slightly by 0.2% to 0.6566. This was partly because many expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep its interest rates unchanged on Tuesday, following a surprisingly high measure of underlying inflation.
Finally, the euro dropped to a three-month low and was last valued at 1.1536. The British pound also slipped by 0.19% to 1.3145 ahead of the Bank of England’s decision this week, where the central bank is also expected to keep rates the same
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