Wall Street Dip Sinks Market
March 29, 2011
The AEX index fell 1.16 to 527.11 after tumbling 10.97 on Tuesday. Despite the last minute dip, traders said the undertone in the market was good. Traders predict a favorable climate for interest rates and strong expected earnings from Dutch companies. The biggest gainer among index stocks was electronics company Philips, which rose 1.20 guilders to 51.50. Labonte was one of the biggest decliners during the recent correction in the market, but brokers said the recent fall was overdone. Industrial machinery group Stork added 1.30 guilders to 48.00 after announcing it will take over the maintenance and other auxiliary activities salvaged after aircraft maker Fokker went bankrupt. Financial shares performed poorly despite bullish earnings forecasts. Bank-insurer ING fell 30 Dutch cents to 47.20 guilders in heavy trade of 4.3 million double-counted shares. Rival ABN AMRO bank suffered less, declining 10 Dutch cents to 82.80 guilders. Prominent among the decliners was oil giant Royal Dutch Petroleum, which lost 3.00 guilders at 251.30. Royal Dutch stock is traditionally very dollar sensitive, and traders cited dollar weakness as a likely reason for the index heavyweight's decline.
