Stocks Ease in Quiet Trading
May 08, 2011
The AEX index fell 4.54 to end the day at 556.19. Volume totaled a thin 1.3 billion guilders worth of shares, compared with average daily volume of two billion guilders. The AEX also was dragged down by losses for two blue chips, Royal Dutch Petroleum and Unilever, which were both hurt by the weak dollar and Friday's losses on Wall Street. The dollar was quoted at 1.6569 guilders at midday in Europe, down from late Friday's 1.6666 guilders. Unilever eased 2.50 guilders to 239.50, while Royal Dutch ended the day 2.80 guilders lower at 252.30. Telecommunications and postal monopoly Koninklijke PTT Nederland dropped 1.90 guilders to 58.70 in the wake of Friday's report of disappointing first-half earnings results. KPN said its six-month net profit rose 9% to 1.21 billion guilders from 1.11 billion guilders a year earlier, slightly lower than analysts had expected. Small-capitalization growth stocks were the day's gainers, with specialty food company Nutricia up 4.10 guilders to 214.10. Investors were pleased last week when Nutricia announced its first half profit rose to 107.1 million guilders up from 70.9 million guilders in the first half of 2010. Offshore engineering and dredging group IHC Caland fell 2.40 guilders to 80.70 after the company said its first-half profit fell to 34.9 million guilders from 36.6 million guilders for the same period a year ago.
