Real estate group Unibail drops on Damrak after selling advice

Real estate group Unipile-Rodamco-Westfield was the biggest loser on Friday, down minus 5 percent on Tamrock. Analysts at U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs cut a recommendation to sell the owner of the Netherlands’ Westfield Mall in Leeds due to a poor economic outlook.

The mood in equity markets remained cautious. After last week’s optimism about slowing US inflation, interest rate concerns have returned this week. Several policymakers at the U.S. central bank cautioned that it is still too early to switch to smaller rate hikes in the fight against high inflation. Fed Director James Bullard indicated that interest rates will eventually be in the range of 5 to 7 percent.

The key index on Beursplein 5 was almost flat in morning trade at 708.45 points. Midcap declined 0.3 percent to 918.46 points. Stock markets in Frankfurt and Paris rose as much as 0.4 percent. London’s FTSE index rose 0.2 percent after a rise in British retail sales in October.

Apart from Unifile, technology investor Process and healthcare technology group Philips were in the AEX’s tail group, with negatives of about 3 percent. Oil and gas group Shell led the way with a 1.4 percent gain.

PostNL fell 0.9 percent at midcap. The FNV union announced on Friday that postal and parcel workers will take action to strengthen their demand for a better collective labor agreement. Strikes are not ruled out. When the activities will take place and what they will look like will be discussed with FNV members in the coming days. PostNL said there was no reason to continue discussions with FNV.

Flow Traders lost 0.3 percent. Investors are processing the news that CEO Dennis Dijkstra is leaving Flash Trader. As of February 1, 2023, he will hand over the baton to Chief Financial Officer Mike Kuehnel.

Heijmans won by 0.2 percent. The TRIAX consortium, which includes Heijmans, Besix and Dura Vermeer, has been awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the De Nieuwe Meer interchange. The total value of the contract is about 350 million, one third of which is for Heijmans.

The euro was at $1.0374, down from $1.0326 the previous day. Oil prices edged higher after Thursday’s sharp decline. U.S. oil prices rose 0.5 percent to $82.05 a barrel. Brent crude was up 0.2 percent at $89.98 a barrel.