After reaching a six-year high on Monday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 finished the week more or less exactly where it began, closing at 1,543.71 at the end of Friday’s session. Banks were mixed, as was the automobile manufacturing sector. Insurance was up.
In the insurance sector, Allianz (NYSE: AZ; LSE: ALV) added 5.4 percent to €164.07 after it reported strong results and offered positive guidance. France’s Axa (Euronext: CS; NYSE: AXA) was also higher, gaining 2.4 percent to €33.51. Elsewhere in the sector, Converium added 14.9 percent to SFr21.60 as investors hoped it could get a better offer out of Scor after it rejected the French reinsurer’s bid of SFr21 per share.
Among banks, ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB; NYSE: ABN) and Banco Santander (LSE: BNC; NYSE: STD) were higher but Italian banks Capitalia and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena declined. Santander added 0.3 percent on the week to €14.54, while Amro added 10 percent to €27.94 on sale rumors. Siena was 0.4 percent lower to €5.05, while Capitalia dropped 2.6 percent to €6.86.
In the automobile manufacturing sector, Volkswagen was up 8.1 percent during the week to €94.94 on strong results for the full year. DaimlerChrysler dropped 3.6 percent to €53.80 after VW said it was not interested in its US Chrysler division.