Good performance early in the US equities market helped European equities
markets to gains on Monday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.05 percent to
1,194.42.

In the pharmaceutical sector, GlaxoSmithKline’s fall of 0.8 percent in London sent European drug makers down as well. Sanofi-Aventis lost 1.2 percent to €71.80, and Novartis dropped 1 percent to SFr62.35, while Schering fell 0.6 percent to €52.61. The fall of GSK, in turn, came partly on a jury decision against Merck involving the death of a patient using Vioxx.

The automobile manufacturing sector was up, led by Fiat, which gained 3.3 percent to €7.2450. The company has a €3 billion loan which comes due in September, and if it cannot pay cash, the banks which extended the loan must convert it into equity, which would leave them owning about one-fourth of the company, more than is owned by Fiat’s founding family. Elsewhere in the sector, Volkswagen gained 1.9 percent to €44.85, and DaimlerChrysler and Peugot each added 1.2 percent, with shares in DaimlerChrysler sitting at €42.69 and shares in Peugot at €52.40.

Meanwhile, Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods company Unilever gained 1.5 percent to €57.25 on speculation that some of its frozen foods brands might be sold.