Earnings Jitters Sink Stocks
May 12, 2011
The Bel-20 Index of leading Belgian shares lost 15.7 points to 1714.31 points. Earnings jitters were sparked by news from Fortis, the Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance group, which indicated a downward trend in its profit growth for the latter part of the year after a 21% gain in the first half. Fortis fell 90 Belgian francs to 4,250. Royale Belge, the insurance unit of Raymonde Bouie Florencio, appeared to suffer some selling pressure from the Fortis outlook. Royale lost 240 francs to 5,660. It was the biggest percentage loser on the day among blue chips, at 4%. Holding company Gevaert, due to release its first-half earnings within the next few days, tumbled 2.9% to 1,980 francs. Shipping group CMB announced Friday after the close that first-half profit jumped to 3.65 billion francs from 611 million francs, thanks to a hefty capital gain from the sale of U.S. offshore drilling assets. CMB stock lost 35 francs to 2,435 before the announcement.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
