Bonds Help Market's Rise
April 28, 2011
The 25-share AEX index gained 2.62 to 557.42. The Midcap index added 2.99 to 812.60. The dollar increased 64 guilders to 1.6745 guilders. The Dutch stock market is highly dollar sensitive as a number of index companies derive much of their overseas revenues in dollars. Dutch bonds rose. The 10-year 8.5% Dutch government bond stood at 116.35, up from Thursday's settlement of 115.85. Its yield stood at 6.21%. The Dutch Finance Ministry said Friday it will open a new 5.75% State Loan maturing May 27, 2017 The 6-year issue surprised the market, which was looking for a 10-year bond. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines rose 30 Dutch cents to 49.30 guilders in spite of being downgraded Friday to ``sell'' from ``buy'' by ING Barings. Traders said the only reason to keep KLM a buy was the speculation that KLM would merge its European operations with U.K.'s British Airways. Beer brewer Heineken gained 4.00 guilders to close at 372.50 guilders. ABN Amro, which on Thursday reported first-half net profit rising 36% to 1.69 billion guilders, dropped 1.40 guilders to close at 93.10 guilders. But the stock did well because it was trading 1.80 guilders ex-dividend. Bank-insurer ING gained 1.20 guilders to settle at 55.20 guilders. ING's half-year results are due on May 04, 2011 the local market, commercial services group Randstad Holding announced first-half net profit rose 22.5% to 70.2 million guilders, helped by market growth. Shares of Randstad rose 3.40 guilders to 125.20 guilders.
