Eurofirst up on telecoms, chems

In Europe on Thursday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.2 percent to 1,387.36, it’s highest close in nearly five years. Even so, it fell back substantially from the high of 1,392.85 in reached earlier in the day as mining stocks in the UK saw losses.

The telecommunications sector was mixed. Nokia added 5.6 percent to €18.40 on a first-quarter earnings and sales report that was well ahead of forecasts. However, Ericsson was down 0.4 percent to SKr28.70 ahead of its first-quarter report, due Friday.

In the semiconductor sector, STMicroelectronics was helped by Nokia’s result and added 2.6 percent to €15.60.

Dutch chemicals company Akzo Nobel gained 6 percent on the day to €46.29 after releasing a better-than-expected quarterly report and a positive outlook statement for the second quarter. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein reiterated its “add” recommendation and its target share price at €46. The rest of the sector benefited from Akzo Nobel’s report. BASF was up 3.3 percent to €67.55, Bayer added 1.9 percent to €34.32, and DSM gained 1.7 percent to €36.83.

Foods group Danone added 1.3 percent to €100.70 as it reported close to a 15 percent rise in sales in the first quarter and issued a positive outlook. Even so, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated its “underperform” rating on Danone and kept its target share price at €76. The agency did, however, say that if there was an offer for the company, its share price could rise as much as 20 percent.

German software company SAP released a slightly less positive report. While license revenues were higher than had been anticipated, operating margins were lower than expected and there was no change in its full-year guidance. As a result, SAP dropped 0.9 percent to €181.50.