European stocks saw a lackluster start to the week as oil-price weakness drove losses for major energy companies, with shares of Deliveroo leading the gains, while Hargreaves Lansdown tumbled.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.15% was flat at 470.04, with modest losses across the German DAX DAX, -0.10%, the French CAC 40 PX1, -0.06% and the FTSE 100 UKX, +0.13%, the latter of which was down the most with a 0.2% drop.
One of the biggest losing sectors was oil, with U.S. crude CL00, -2.72% down around 4%, and Brent BRN00, -2.49% close to that, following last week’s selloff that came as some are worried that China could crack down further on efforts to halt the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.
As well, Goldman Sachs downgraded its 2021 China growth forecast, notably for the third quarter, amid concerns over the spread of the delta variant. Shares of TotalEnergies TTE, -0.32% TTE, -0.72% fell over 1%, along with BP BP, -0.65% BP, -0.70% and Royal Dutch Shell RDSA, -0.79% RDS.A, -0.63%.
Elsewhere, shares of delivery-service group Deliveroo ROO, +4.52% was among the top gainers, climbing nearly 6%, after news that Germany’s Delivery Hero DHER, -3.20% has obtained a 5.1% shareholding in the company. A team of Jefferies analysts led by Giles Thorne, said it’s hard to say at this point what Delivery Hero’s intention is.
“Each company hosts a trading update in the coming days that will shed more light. In the meantime, it’s our view that in this new Fourth Age of the sector, the profile of an operator positioned to do well is one with delivery in its DNA, an aggressive and progressive attitude to leveraging delivery, and a first-mover advantage in grocery, preferably on the dark store model,” said the analysts.
Elsewhere, shares of Hargreaves Lansdown HL, -11.34% tumbled 10%, at the bottom of the Stoxx 600 SXXP, +0.15% as the retail-investment platform reported disappointing results that included a drop in pretax profit.
“[Hargreaves Lansdown] offers volume growth but we don’t see this translating into rising EPS (FY24E EPS lower vs FY21E). In the meantime, valuation already looks rich…”said a team of analysts led by Nicholas Herman at Citigroup, in a note to clients.
