By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Here are some of the companies whose
shares are making notable moves in Thursday's European trading
session.
Gainers
Shares of Cairn Energy PLC picked up 1.8%. The oil-and-gas
company said it agreed to sell a 10% stake in the Catcher
development and adjacent area in the North Sea in an effort to
reduce its capital expenditure.
Shares of Direct Line Insurance Group PLC gained 0.5% after the
insurer said it is selling its international unit to Spanish
insurer Mapfre SA for 550 million euros ($705.62 million) and will
return the proceeds to shareholders.
Decliners
Shares of Hennes & Mauritz AB slid 4.2% after the Swedish
fashion retailer said sales in the fiscal fourth quarter got off to
a slow start.
Hargreaves Lansdown PLC dropped 4.2% after RBC Capital Markets
cut the asset manager to sector perform from outperform.
Danone SA gave up 2.8% as J.P. Morgan Cazenove downgraded the
French yogurt maker to underweight from neutral. The analysts said
recent data pointing to a potential slowdown in the U.S. and Russia
as well as uncertainties in China led to the downgrade.
Shares of Hammerson PLC dropped 3.7% after the retail landlord
said it would sell new shares worth around 400 million pounds
($652.8 million) to buy 40% of Highcross Shopping Centre in
Leicester.
Mining firms were also lower, as metals prices dropped across
the board. Shares of BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) fell 2.9%, Rio Tinto
PLC (RIO) lost 2.4% and Glencore PLC slipped 2.1%.
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