Cars, oil fuel Eurofirst losses

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 had was down on the week despite a number of companies that delivered positive quarterly earnings reports. Much of the losses were due to declines in oil companies due to falling crude oil prices. The 300 was down by 1.4 percent during the week to close at 1,377.99 on Friday.

In the oil sector, Neste Oil dropped 4.3 percent during the week to €27.66, while OMV slid 3.5 percent to €55.11 and Total was down 3.4 percent to €219.20.

Semiconductors and cars were both mixed during the week. Among chipmakers, Infineon was up 4.4 on the week to €9.69 after it showed a profit for the first time in a year. On the other hand, STMicroelectronics dropped 6.4 percent to €14.57 this week after it forecast that gross margins for the full year would be lower than had been anticipated.

Among automobile manufacturers, Renault and Peugeot were up, while DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen both saw declines in share prices. Volkswagen lost 4.4 percent to €61.21 on a lower than expected quarterly report, while DaimlerChrysler was down by 6.4 percent on the week to €43.46 on disappointing results.

On the gaining side of the sector, Peugeot added 3.4 percent to €52.10 on a report of first-quarter sales up by 2.4 percent, about what was expected. Renault, with sales up by 5.8 percent in the quarter, more than had been anticipated, gained 7.4 percent during the week to €92.00.

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