European banks mixed on mergers, terrorism

Banks were mixed on Monday in Europe as mergers and acquisition talk carried over from last week. Meanwhile, gains in technology stocks helped lead the FTSE Eurofirst 300 up by 0.4 percent to 1,364.89. Oil companies were down as crude oil prices fell again.

European oil companies were lower after crude oil prices fell on a reduced chance that there would be any damage to oil interests in the Gulf of Mexico from the current storm in the region. Norsk Hydro was 0.9 percent lower to NKr167, while Statoil dropped 1.1 percent to NKr174.

In the semiconductors sector, STMicroelectronics added 1.4 percent to €12.70. Infineon gained 2 percent to €9.03.

Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI were down slightly after last week’s gains on the strength of a proposed merger as shareholders began to have doubts about the deal worked out by the boards of the two banks in a Saturday meeting. Sanpaolo was 1.4 percent lower to €15.87, while Intesa dropped 1.6 percent to €4.99.

Spanish bank Santander, which owns 8.4 percent of Sanpaolo, added 0.7 percent to €12.08. Meanwhile, it was said that Credit Agricole, which owns almost 18 percent of Intesa, was trying to set terms for the deal, especially surrounding the issue of branches to be sold after any merger. Agricole added 1 percent to €32.75.

Elsewhere in the banking sector, Deutsche Postbank was 3.1 percent higher to €62.01 after it was said that Deutsche Post was ready to sell its 50.1 percent holding. On speculation that Deutsche Bank might be interesting in buying, Deutsche Bank added 0.4 percent to €89.02. Deutsche Post gained 2.5 percent to €19.57 on the speculation.

Greek banks, however, were down on the day after a terrorist attack at a Turkish coastal resort. A number of Greek banks have holdings in Turkish banks. EFG Eurobank, which owns EFG Istanbul Securities, and Alpha Bank each dropped 1.2 percent to €23.98 and €20.86 respectively. National Bank of Greece, which finalized its purchase of Finansbank of Turkey just last week, declined by 1.8 percent to €30.50.

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