Ion-Marc Valahu answers Bloomberg – 15.04-2014

‘‘I think this is a case of people taking chips off the table as they’ve made so much money on Greece,"Ion-Marc Valahu, a co-founder and fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva, said in a phone interview. “Greece is a small market, so if some investors leave it does not take too much for a cascading effect to the downside.”

 

By Jonathan Morgan
April 15 (Bloomberg) — European stocks declined, after yesterday’s advance, as investors weighed violence in eastern Ukraine and worse-than-forecast German confidence data.
SABMiller Plc lost 2.1 percent after saying it is considering options for the sale of its $1.04 billion stake in Tsogo Sun Holdings Ltd. Rio Tinto Group fell 3.3 percent after reporting first-quarter iron-ore output that missed forecasts.
L’Oreal SA gained 1.5 percent after posting higher first-quarter European revenue.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.7 percent to 327.53 at 3:31 p.m. in London. The gauge rebounded yesterday amid better- than-estimated U.S. retail sales data and earnings from Citigroup Inc., after last week erasing most of the year’s gains as investors sold technology shares on valuation concerns.
“You have this huge uncertainty from the geopolitical front, which is pulling the market in a negative direction,” Witold Bahrke, who helps oversee $55 billion as a senior strategist at PFA Asset Management in Copenhagen, said in a phone interview. “There is a lack of conviction among investors. Sentiment is still tilted to the negative direction after the escalation in Ukraine at the weekend.”
The number of shares changing hands in Stoxx 600-listed companies was 8.4 percent greater than the 30-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Ukraine moved to dislodge militants from towns in its eastern Donetsk region as Russia’s prime minister said the country risks civil war. Ukrainian units backed by armored personnel carriers blocked all approaches to the town of Slovyansk, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news service reported, citing an unidentified pro-Russian activist.
Envoys from Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and European Union are scheduled to hold talks in Geneva on April 17 in an attempt to resolve the crisis.

German Confidence

In Germany, a gauge of investor confidence fell for a fourth month in April. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, slid to 43.2 from 46.6 in March. Economists had forecast a decline to 45.
“There is little doubt that the ZEW data will have had a depressing impact on sentiment because Germany is the engine room of growth in the euro zone, Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley & Co., said in a phone interview.
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s so- called Empire State manufacturing index declined to 1.29 this month from 5.61 in March. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast an increase to 8.
National benchmark indexes retreated in 16 of 18 western- European markets. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.5 percent, Germany’s DAX lost 1.1 percent, while France’s CAC 40 declined
0.4 percent.

Greek Stocks

Greece’s benchmark ASE Index tumbled 1.7 percent, for its ninth day of declines and longest losing streak since August 2011. The equity gauge rose 28 percent in 2013.
‘‘I think this is a case of people taking chips off the table as they’ve made so much money on Greece,"Ion-Marc Valahu, a co-founder and fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva, said in a phone interview. “Greece is a small market, so if some investors leave it does not take too much for a cascading effect to the downside.”
SABMiller lost 2.1 percent to 3,058 pence. The world’s second-biggest brewer said its 39.6 percent holding in hotel and casino operator Tsogo Sun is not a core part of its operations.

Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto Group fell 3.3 percent to 3,296.5 pence. The world’s second-largest mining company said first-quarter iron ore production rose 8 percent to 52.3 million metric tons from
48.3 million tons a year earlier. That missed the 54.7 million- ton median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg after bad weather affected mines and ports.
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA slid 8.8 percent to
22.9 euro cents, for its biggest decline since November. Italy’s third-largest bank said it may increase the size of a planned share sale to reimburse part of a 4.1 billion-euro ($5.7
billion) government bailout.
L’Oreal advanced 1.5 percent to 122.50 euros. The world’s largest cosmetics maker said first-quarter revenue gained 2.8 percent in western Europe, excluding currency shifts and acquisitions, while southern European sales grew for the first time in six years.
Axel Springer SE added 0.5 percent to 44.49 euros, paring earlier gains of as much as 2.8 percent. Europe’s largest newspaper publisher is working with banks on an initial public offering of its digital-classifieds unit that could value the business at about 3 billion euros, according to people familiar with the matter.
Osram Licht AG gained 1.3 percent to 42.33 euros. Citigroup Inc. recommended investors buy shares in the lighting manufacturer that spun off from Siemens. Osram will benefit from expected growth in the global LED lighting market of 20 percent per year through 2020, according to the broker.

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Jonathan Morgan in Frankfurt at +49-69-92041-207 or jmorgan157@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Cecile Vannucci at +44-20-3525-7032 or
cvannucci1@bloomberg.net
Alan Soughley, Will Hadfield