FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - German shares are expected to open largely flat this morning, given little support from Wall Street, which showed only minimal gains on Friday, and as investors here take a breather after the DAX's positive close on Friday.
At 8.15 am, the DAX 30 index was indicated to open around 14.50 points lower at 7,979.50, after closing up 53.49 points or 0.67 pct at 7,994.07 Friday.
Among stocks being watched this morning, traders said they see a negative read across for German banking shares after Swiss peer UBS announced it will write down the value of its US subprime-related holdings by another 10 bln usd and warned it sees a loss at group level for the fourth quarter.
Commerzbank and Deutsche Postbank, in particular, was trading lower in pre-bourse deals.
Bayer shares, meanwhile, are seen getting a boost after the pharma giant announced that its drug Rivaroxaban is more effective than a drug from competitor Sanofi-Aventis in preventing venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing total hip surgery.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
TODAY
Oct current account, trade balance (0700)
Press conference on 'Charta of Diversity', an initiative to promote cultural diversity in German companies, with Joachim Horras (Deutsche Bank) and Bruno Eichhorn (Fraport AG), (1530)
TOMORROW
Wincor Nixdorf publishes annual report FY 2006/2007
ZEW economic expectations (1000)
DIW German economic forecasts
Lufthansa November traffic figures (1200)
Bayer conference call to present study results on Xarelto (rivaroxaban) (1300)
Autumn press conference ZVEI (0930)
wholesale prices Nov (WPI)
TODAY'S PRESS
-Axel Springer to close down Pin Group until year-end - report (Financial Times Deutschland)
-Bertelsmann mulls sale of Bookclubs in US, other foreign markets - report (Financial Times Deutschland)
-RWE's negotiations on stake buy of US Excelerate Energy to be completed this year - report (Financial Times Deutschland)
-German states to demand 50 mln eur compensation from Deutsche Bahn for trains cancelled during strikes - report (Die Welt)
-KfW banking group plans to enter sales process of IKB in mid-January - report (Die Welt)
-Hanover trade fair considers expanding to Brazil, Dubai, Japan - report (Die Welt)
-SachsenLB's financial risks due to subprime exposure amount to 43 bln eur - report (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)
-Siemens to focus on organic growth; internal corruption investigation will take years - CEO (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)
-UK wants to buy less Eurofighter planes (Handelsblatt)
-Deutsche Post cuts prices of stamps for cos (Handelsblatt)
--Koelmel in talks to sell Kinowelt stake to France's Canal Plus (Handelsblatt)
-Suez' unit Sita acquires 70 pct stake in Belland-Vision (Handelsblatt)
WEEKEND PRESS
-WestLB shareholder says sale of WestLB stake not under consideration (dpa)
-Bayer says Xarelto anti-thrombosis pill shown to be superior to enoxaparin
-Bayer says Zevalin increases survival rates in follicular lymphoma
-Siemens CEO Loescher to meet with SEC on Dec 17 - report (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)
-Daimler aims to increase operating margin to 9 pct by 2010 (Der Spiegel)
-Continental AG aims to generate 20-25 pct of revenues in Asia in future (Euro am Sonntag)
-German retailers group says Christmas sales to date still below last year
MARKET SENTIMENT
-SGL CARBON GROUP ADDED TO MERRILL LYNCH'S 'EUROPE 1 LIST' - TRADERS
-HOCHTIEF UPGRADED TO 'NEUTRAL' FROM 'SELL' AT GOLDMAN SACHS - TRADERS Tyler.Sitte@thomson.com ts/ra COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
© 2007 AFX News
