European stocks down for a third day on decline in energy shares

Disappointing earnings results from corporate bellwethers weighed on equity prices in Europe and on Wall Street yesterday.

European equities fell in late trading after disappointing updates from companies including Aberdeen Asset Management and British energy supplier SSE.

Coming off a two-day dip, US stock indexes were mixed in early trading.

DUBLIN

The Iseq index of leading shares ended down 0.1 per cent at 6,511,65.

Among the main movers were paper and packaging company Smurfit Kappa, which ended the day up 1.4 per cent to €28.18 on the back of reports of price increases in the containerboard industry.

Irish service station operator Applegreen, which raised €91.7 million after floating in Dublin and London last month, also closed up 1.4 per cent to €4.50 after Davy initiated coverage of the stock with an outperform rating. Applegreen's share price has risen 17 per cent since its IPO.

Elsewhere, trading in Ryanair shares was subdued ahead of publication of its latest quarterly results on Monday. Shares closed virtually unchanged at €12.45, although analysts expected to see movement in the stock today.

Reports that Ulster Bank has chosen a consortium including Chartered Land as the preferred bidder for the Ballsbridge hotel sites acquired by bankrupt developer Sean Dunne helped property-related shares rise higher.

Green Reit closed up 1.2 per cent higher at €1.58, while Hibernia Reit was up 0.6 per cent to €1.20.

Hotel group Dalata ended down 1.3 per cent at €4.02.

LONDON

Britain’s top share index edged lower, hit by weak earnings reports from Aberdeen Asset Management and SSE,

Pearson

rallied after it said it had agreed to sell the

FT Group

to Japan’s

Nikkei

.

Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 12.33 points, 0.2 per cent lower at 6,655.01 at the close.

Aberdeen Asset Management tumbled 7.6 per cent, touching its lowest levels in over a year after the emerging markets-focused fund manager said it saw net outflows of £9.9 billion in the last quarter.

SSE, Britain's second-biggest energy supplier, dropped 5 percent after saying it expected lower profits from its retail business this year.

Among gainers, Pearson was up 2.1 per cent after Japan's Nikkei publishing group agreed to buy the FT Group, which produces the Financial Times, from the British publisher for £844 million in cash.

EUROPE

European stocks fell for a third day as a decline in energy shares outweighed better-than-expected results from

Credit Suisse

and

Unilever

.

Credit Suisse rose 6.2 percent after quarterly profit beat estimates. Unilever climbed 1.6 percent after the maker of Magnum ice cream reported higher-than-forecast sales.

Among energy companies, Royal Dutch Shell lost 1.5 percent and Tullow Oil slipped 3.7 per cent, as oil approached a bear market.

Roche rose 1.6 per cent after the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs reported first-half earnings that exceeded analyst estimates.

NEW YORK

Caterpillar

shares fell as much as 3.4 per cent to a four-year low of $77.03 after the world’s largest construction and mining equipment maker reported sales declines in key markets in a sluggish global economy.

American Express was down 2.8 per cent to $77.75 as revenue missed expectations, while 3M was 2.5 per cent lower at $151.44 after the diversified manufacturer cut its full-year forecast.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38.28 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 17,812.76, the S&P 500 declined 1.81 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 2,112.34 and the Nasdaq Composite added 17.03 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5,188.80.

(Additional reporting Bloomberg/Reuters)