UPDATE 2-European stocks end flat but gains for a fourth straight month

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
UPDATE 2-European stocks end flat but gains for a fourth straight month
Credit: © Reuters.

* Banks weigh on poor earnings by Danske

* AMS soars 21 percent on upbeat outlook

* Euro Zone GDP better than expected, unemployment falls (There will no European stock market report on May 1 as most regional markets will be closed on account of the Labour day holiday. Reuters will resume coverage on Thursday, May 2. London's FTSE 100 market report .L will be published as usual on May 1.)

By Susan Mathew

April 30 (Reuters) - European shares closed little changed on Tuesday as a decline in banks after disappointing earnings was countered by gains in oil stocks and a 21 percent surge in chipmaker AMS.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was flat at the close after oscillating between positive and negative territory throughout the day. MKTS/GLOB

On the month, the STOXX 600 rose 3.2 percent, extending gains through a fourth straight month -- its longest winning streak since May 2017.

Rising oil prices and positive euro zone economic growth and employment data helped calm investor sentiment bruised by some poor earnings from regional companies, and weak factory data from China that cast a shadow over global growth. MKTS/GLOB O/R

"The stuff that matters the most for long term demand -- the services, labour market -- that in the euro zone is in good shape," said Kallum Pickering, senior economist at Berenberg.

On the day, London's FTSE 100 .FTSE underperformed, down 0.3 percent as miner Glencore GLEN.L weighed, while most other major country indices ended higher.

Banks .SX7P were the biggest weight on the pan-regional index, with Danske Bank DANSKE.CO , caught up in a massive money laundering scandal, falling nearly 10 percent as it lowered its 2019 outlook after a disappointing first quarter. Santander SAN.MC , the euro zone's biggest bank by market value, slipped after first-quarter net profit dropped. Chartered STAN.L , however, advanced after it announced plans for up to $1 billion of share buybacks, the bank's first in at least 20 years. from China, a big consumer of metals, weighed on basic resources stocks .SXPP , which were the biggest percentage losers. Glencore's move to cut its copper output forecast also weighed on the sector. the other hand, oil majors were the biggest boost to the region as crude prices rose. O/R

Apple supplier AMS AMS.S AMS.VI soared 21.2 percent, and posted its biggest one-day jump since October 2017 after it beat forecasts for first-quarter profit and gave an upbeat outlook for the second quarter. the good news of a strong outlook for second quarter sales versus expectations," said Martin Moeller, a Swiss and Global Equity portfolio manager at UBP.

"This comes after the bad news from Infineon IFXGn.DE and AMS in February ... Also, investors have been nervous about oversupply and high inventories in semiconductors, especially after the recent Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) forecast cut," he said.

AMS reported results before Apple's AAPL.O quarterly report due late on Tuesday.

Also helping the chip sentiment was an upbeat forecast from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 005930.KS for the second half of the year.

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