By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks opened higher Wednesday,
aiming for a win after two sessions of declines.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.2% at 334.50. The index on Tuesday
gave up 0.3% as investors focused on concerns about valuations
throughout global markets, and as tensions between Ukraine and
Russia appeared to escalate.
The pan-European index found support from shares of Volkswagen
AG and Ryanair Holdings following ratings upgrades for the auto
maker and the air carrier. Ryanair shares were lifted 3.4% after an
upgrade to overweight from equal weight at Barclays, which said it
expects the company "will positively surprise on pricing, load
factor and ancillaries this summer; we also expect a bounce-back in
fares next winter."
Also emerging as a top advancer, Volkswagen AG shares rose 2.5%
as Bernstein moved its rating up to outperform from market-perform.
But rival auto maker BMW AG slipped 0.1% after its rating at
Bernstein was downgraded market-perform. "Having been BMW bulls for
a number of years," and "notoriously cautious" on Volkswagen,
Bernstein said it's time it changed recommendations in part as
expectations for VW have moderated.
BMW's stock is not expensive, said Bernstein. "However, much as
we admire BMW, we believe in future years it may find growth harder
to deliver as its products saturate every niche in the premium
segment, as competition intensifies and as FX pressures build once
hedges expire."
But on Wednesday, BMW reported it had its strongest-ever month
in March as sales in China surged and European car markets
recover.
Volkswagen was the best performing stock on the German DAX 30 ,
helping the index rise 0.2% to 9,513.95. France's CAC 40 gained
0.3% to 4,437.43.
Data out on Wednesday showed German exports fell 1.3%
month-on-month in February, a reading weaker than expected. Imports
were up 0.4%, on a seasonally adjusted basis, Germany's statistics
office said.
In the U.K., the trade deficit narrowed to GBP2.1 billion ($3.5
billion) in February as both exports and imports dropped, the
Office for National Statistics reported.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 picked up 0.2%, with shares of IMI PLC
up 2.6% after the engineering company was upgraded to overweight
from neutral at HSBC.
Meanwhile, Nigerian oil and gas firm Seplat Petroleum
Development Company PLC priced its initial public offering for a
listing on the London Stock Exchange at 210 pence a share ($1.67).
The company will be the first to have a dual Nigeria/U.K. listing,
and based on the offer price, Seplat's total market capitalization
is about $1.91 billion.
Seplat produces around 60,000 barrels of oil a day from three
oil blocks it purchased from Royal Dutch Shell PLC in 2010, The
Wall Street Journal reported.
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