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European Equities Market Data - FT.com

The latest European equities market news from the Financial Times, with stock data, financial commentary and investor analysis on FT.com

1. Hutchison Whampoa / Eircom

Shareholders might question its recent foray in Ireland, given that telecoms have sapped the rest of the Hong Kong group

2. Nokia shares fall after difficult week

Finnish group has another tough week after a fractious shareholder meeting and news that an investor is suing over the move to Windows smartphones

3. Europe week: banks lurch lower

ECB’s decision to leave rates unchanged knocked lenders’ shares as investors feared policy makers were not doing enough to resolve eurozone crisis

4. Boards wake up to a shareholder spring

Breakdown in talks with several boards that institutions accuse of rewarding executives for anaemic performance with multimillion-pound bonuses

5. Nokia leads fallers in Europe stocks

Drop to six-year low follows Thursday’s angry meeting of shareholders in struggling Finnish mobile phone maker

6. Euro fails to hold gains against dollar

The single currency dipped agaisnt the Greenback after Mario Draghi, ECB president, said that the central bank had not discussed a rate cut

7. Banks fall further on Draghi rate inaction

European Central Bank decision to leave interest rates unchanged leaves investors worried policymakers are not doing enough to tackle eurozone crisis

8. Nasdaq buys compliance group BWise

Acquisition part of a long-term plan by exchange operator to grow the part of its business that serves the companies listed on its markets

9. Italian banks fall ahead of Moody’s review

Investors anticipate downgrades across the sector from Moody’s, while key purchasing manufacturers data for Italy showed a sharp deterioration

10. Haircuts on repos will jeopardise recovery

A mandatory haircut would not stop banks cutting back their credit line in another crisis, so why are regulators pushing such a flawed idea?

11. Poor weather clips Kingfisher’s wings

Shares in the DIY specialist slipped 0.3% to 289.6p, their lowest since mid-March, on fears a month of bad weather in the UK had hurt sales

12. Banks lead falls after Spanish downgrades

In Madrid, the Ibex 35 tumbles 1.9 per cent to 7,011 after the government releases data revealing the Spanish economy contracted 0.3%

13. Trading slump dents NYSE Euronext profits

Exchange reports 44% drop in first-quarter profits as it absorbs the effect of a slowdown in derivatives trading and $31m in merger charges and exit costs

14. Critical drug trials boost Actelion

Swiss biotech group reveals positive test findings for new drug seen as successor to Tracleer

15. BT hampered by pension deficit fears

Regulator says companies cannot ignore the impact of quantitative easing when calculating their pension deficits and pricing must be on current gilt yields

16. Luxury goods makers brush up well

Sentiment was also supported by a successful initial public offering by Brunello Cucinello, whose shares jumped 12.8% when it began trading on Friday

17. Vivendi moves to reassure bondholders

French media and telecoms group says it will avoid putting credit rating in jeopardy after talk of strategic overhaul

18. Samsung trumps Nokia on handset sales

S Korean group becomes the world’s top mobile phone maker by sales and regains the top smartphone spot from Apple as its Galaxy phones gain popularity

19. Volkswagen rallies after solid results

German carmaker enjoys best session in five months as it shrugs off a worsening European car market to post an increase in net profits

20. Strong domestic growth supports UPS

The parcel delivery group reported solid first-quarter revenue gains driven by a bump in US ecommerce but cautioned that Asia remained weak