European stocks rise amid Vodafone, BP news

BP, and tracked the eurozone debt crisis after an EU-IMF bailout of Portugal.
In late morning deals, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0,28 percent to 5 941,34 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index won 0,17 percent to 3 996,62 points, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid 0,44 percent to 7 353,84.
The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies increased 0,21 percent to 2 887,22 points.
British mobile phone giant Vodafone said yesterday that annual net profit sank 7,8 percent, on a huge impairment charge for its operations in debt-ravaged nations in southern Europe.
Earnings after tax fell to £7,97 billion (US$12,94 billion) in the year to March, compared with 2009/2010, when it was boosted by higher revenues, cost savings and a lower tax bill.
However, Vodafone shares rallied 2,05 percent to 171,70 pence as investors focused on news that pre-tax profits soared 9,5 percent to £9,498 billion.
“The main focus for equity investors has been the Vodafone full-year profits, with pre-tax coming in at £9,5 billion – nearly 10 percent up on last year,” said research head Anthony Grech at trading group IG Index.
“This was better than expected, and we’ve seen the shares in demand right from the open this morning.”
Market attention was also focused on BP following the collapse of its historic Arctic oil exploration and share-swap deal with Russian state energy giant Rosneft.
But the news sent BP’s share price rallying 1,33 percent to 444,30 pence in late morning trade.
Rosneft has pulled out of its oil alliance with BP and will look for new Western partners to explore the Russian Arctic, Interfax news agency said yesterday, giving an abrupt twist to the deal.
In Asia, stock markets closed mixed after a limp showing on Wall Street, and amid disquiet over European debt woes.
Tokyo scraped into positive territory, up 0,09 percent, while Seoul lost 0,08 percent and Hong Kong finished down 0,26 percent.
European finance ministers on Monday backed a three-year 78-billion-euro EU-IMF bailout for Portugal on condition Lisbon embarks on a major raft of public sell-offs.
The ministers agreed unanimously to rescue Portugal, making it the third eurozone country in the space of one year to receive a multi-billion-euro bailout after Greece and Ireland.
Greece has, meanwhile, moved closer to securing better bailout terms as EU ministers played down the absence of arrested IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and explored scenarios to ease Athens’ debt burden.
Wall Street fell on Monday as the United States struck its limit on borrowing with no increase in sight, putting more pressure on the government to slash spending. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0,38 percent at 12 548,37 points. – AFP.