CPI In Britain At Historical Low, Japanese Equities At 3-Week High

Vodafone: Signs Of Stabilization In Europe

Vodafone Group (NASDAQ:VOD) shows signs of stabilization in the European markets, despite the decline in its annual profitability.

The British telecom giant announced today that its annual net earnings until last March fell to 5.76 billion pounds (9.01 billion dollars) compared with the 59.3 billion pounds a year earlier.

The profits of last year were positively affected by the sale of the US unit of Vodafone, in a deal of 130 billion dollars.

The adjusted operating profit of Vodafone fell by 19% to 3.51 billion pounds, while the EBITDA profits increased by 7.5% to 11.9 billion pounds. The revenues, increased by 10.1% to 42.2 billion pounds.

"We are seeing increasing signs of stabilization in many of our European markets" said the CEO of Vodafone Vittorio Cola while presenting the company's results.
He also announced that Vodafone will distribute a dividend of 11.2 pence per share, increased by 2%.

Britain: Historical Record Low For The Consumer Price Index

The consumer price index in Great Britain showed a fall by 0.1% in April for the first time since 1996, when the official statistical service of the country, the ONS, calculates the relative index.

The data caused a surprise in the market as the rate of the index is negative for the first time since 1960, the year in which the historical estimations are based.

The fall, according to the ONS service, is mainly caused due to the reduction of air and maritime freights.

Positive Signs In Tokyo

Japanese equities jumped in a new 3-week high today, following the example of Wall Street, which closed to new record highs on Monday.

The announcement of distribution of dividends by many Japanese companies affected positively the investment climate in Tokyo.

The Nikkei index rose by 0.7% for the third consecutive session, and closed at 20,026.38 points - the highest level since April 28.

The broader index Topix rose by 0.4% to 1,633.33 points and closed to its highest level since November 2007. The JPX-Nikkei Index 400 rose by 0.4% to 14,760.97 points.

Euromarkets Advance Very High

European indices began today with significant gains, continuing the upward reaction of yesterday’s session, after the leakage of the European Commission project which promotes a basis for an agreement between the Greek government and the institutions.

The British FTSE 100 index was up by 0.46% to 7,001 points, the German DAX recorded gains of 1.59% at 11,779 points and the French CAC 40 moved up by 1.45% to 5,084 points.

STOXX 600 index recorded profits of 1.37% at 403.55 points.

European indices also have an important boost by the automotive industry. The shares of Volkswagen (XETRA:VOWG) and Renault (PARIS:RENA) are making gains of over 3%, after the announcement that their sales in April rose by 6.9% and closing the 20th consecutive month of rise.

Also, Julius Baer Group (OTC:JBAXY) is increased by 1.5%, as the management said that the volatility in the market will boost its revenues from the asset management segment and will increase the potential profit for this year.

DCC (LONDON:DCC) which is at + 7.1%, reported a revenue growth in the previous 12 months of use, while it increased also the acquisition offer for Butagaz to 464 million euro.