By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Shares in London traded little
changed Monday, pausing after an advance last week that took the
FTSE 100 equities benchmark to levels last seen in 2008.
The FTSE 100 index was flat at 6,126.82.
Its close on Friday above the 6,100 level leaves "a clear path
for a significant move higher for the index. However, with the old
adage, 'when everyone's a buyer it's time to sell,' one should
treat the current trading environment with caution," said Mike
McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor
in London.
A heavy round of U.S. corporate results beginning later this
week will likely have a hand in setting the London trading tone,
with major banks set to dominate the earnings headlines. .
Financials led some gains, with Lloyds Banking Group PLC up 1.9%
and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC rose 1.4%.
Broker moves commanded much of the action, with fund management
company Schroders PLC up over 3% to 1,875 pence after analyst at
J.P. Morgan Cazenove raised their price target to 2,556 pence from
1,882.
Shares of G4S rose over 1% to 271 pence after Credit Suisse
lifted it to outperform from neutral and its target price to 330
pence from 275 pence.
Miners were also in focus. Shares of Eurasian Natural Resources
Corp. led London's gainers with a rise of 3.6% to 334 pence after
analysts at Credit Suisse lifted it to outperform from neutral,
raising the target price to 400 pence from 350 pence, citing
potential re-rating catalysts for 2013.
Barclays downgraded the European mining sector to neutral from
positive on Monday, saying the outperformance of that sector over
the past six months has been linked to an 83% rise in iron-ore
prices, and now's a good time to reduce weightings. The analysts
cut their 2013 earnings-per-share forecasts for the sector by 7%.
Iron-ore-exposed stocks will fare better, while copper, coal and
precious metals come off worse, they said.
The analysts cut Kazakhmys PLC to underweight from equalweight,
and said BHP Billiton now moves to the top of its rankings over Rio
Tinto.
Rio Tinto PLC rose 1.2% and BHP Billiton PLC gained 0.5%.
Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC led decliners, its shares falling
nearly 1%, while telecom heavyweight Vodafone Group PLC lost 0.3%.
Glaxo announced a regulatory submission to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration for a diabetes treatment.
Vodafone said it intends to start discussions Tuesday with
unions representing workers in Spain, concerning planned layoffs in
the crisis-hit country. Vodafone has about 4,300 staffers in Spain.
.
Shares of Associated British Foods PLC fell nearly 2% after
analysts at Nomura cut it to neutral from buy on valuation.
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