European equity bourses are lower Friday, with CAC-40 and FTSE-100
leading the move. GlaxoSmithKline and BP are main decliners on
FTSE-100, whilst EDF and Suez are leading CAC-40 lower. Airlines are
lower following rise in crude oil prices, with easyJet lower after
suffering downgrade to "sell" from "buy" from Goldman Sachs, along with
cut in price target to 223 from 420. However banking stocks are higher
with HBOS up on plans to raise Stg4bln through a rights issue. Alliance
& Leicester is up ahead of its pending regulation to FTSE-250. In
addition, talk that UBS has received a 99% take up for shares in its
$15.3bn rights issue has also helped lift sentiment in banking stocks.
CAC-40 is down 43pts (-0.92%), Xetra-DAX is down 45pts (-0.67%) and
FTSE-100 is down 48pts (-0.84%).