Aperam and KBC firmly in the red

(ABM FN) The Brussels stock exchange closed with a loss on Friday, mainly because the quarterly updates from Aperam and KBC were severely punished.

The Bel20 index fell one percent to 4,330.95 points.

“Investors are now mainly looking at how, in the current world of rising prices, companies are able to pass on inflation to the customer,” said Stefaan Casteleyn, fund manager at Aequitas Patrimonium, in a reaction to ABM Financial News.

“If you look at the company figures in the third quarter, you can see that many companies were able to implement this,” notes Casteleyn. Although it seems that some caution is slowly creeping into the market as to whether this will be so easy in the future.

“Just look at the disappointing stock market reaction at Aperam today despite record results. The results may be good, but investors seem to be wondering what will follow and whether the coming period will be more difficult,” said Casteleyn.

“Perhaps it is also a sign that the valuations in the market are a bit on the high side. You are feeling more and more caution in the market,” says the fund manager.

Although it is also macroeconomic concerns that may currently alarm investors somewhat. “You can also interpret that the dollar is strong and the market is starting to price in that the US central bank will raise interest rates earlier than expected due to inflationary pressures. That already seems to be the theme of 2022,” said Casteleyn.

The fund manager, who also invests in gold, also points out that gold may well make a comeback in 2022. “One of the weird things about the past year is that inflation went up, but gold did not follow. Inflation is now starting to rise further and that is slowly pushing market participants towards gold and gold mines,” the fund manager says. “People are beginning to estimate that inflation may be more persistent than many think and gold may start to gain momentum.”

On a macroeconomic level, there was little news on Friday. It turned out, however, that industrial production in the eurozone declined slightly in September. Seasonally adjusted production declined 0.2 percent in September compared to August. This means that the production contraction is considerably smaller than in August.

In the afternoon, US consumer confidence declined, as did the number of open job openings.

The euro/dollar traded at 1.1443 and oil dropped more than half a percent.

Risers and Fallers

Aperam saw its profitability stabilize at a high level in the third quarter, thanks to favorable price developments. Jefferies spoke of record results in response. The stock nevertheless lost 5.0 percent.

And KBC also submitted a good report. At 601 million euros, the profit was 100 million euros higher than analysts had expected. Here the exchange rate loss was 4.7 percent.

Umicore fell a further 1.2 percent. ING sharply lowered its price target for Umicore, from EUR 54.00 to EUR 43.00, after Johnson Matthey announced that it is withdrawing from battery cathode manufacturer. “We see little room for outperformance in the near term given the limited visibility of the automotive supply chain recovery, weakening growth in China and structural concerns about the profit potential of the cathode business,” ING said.

WDP and Melexis were the leaders with profits of approximately one percent.

In the BelMid, Shurgard went up 3.0 percent and Immobel 3.3 percent. Bpost lost 3.4 percent, after the price gain on Thursday. Kinepolis lost 4.1 percent.

In the smaller stocks, Texaf gained 4.8 percent. Texaf has seen revenues rise in the third quarter, both from its real estate business and its quarry, making it the strongest gainer among small stocks.

Bone fell 2.2 percent.

Wall Street

At the end of the trading day in Brussels, the American stock markets gained about half a percent.

Bron: ABM Financial News

From Beursplein 5, the editors of ABM Financial News keep a close eye on developments on the stock exchanges, and the Amsterdam stock exchange in particular. The information in this column is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.

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