Amsterdam higher midday on Iraqi acceptance of UN resolution

Share prices were higher in relatively quiet midday trade still on relief Iraq accepted the UN resolution on weapons inspections, dealers said.

At 12.06 pm, the AEX was up 3.31 to 329.48 after opening at 323.17 and reaching an early low of 321.60 and a high of 330.41 at 11.26am.

Government bonds yields were 8-61 basis points lower, while the euro was bid at $1.0072.

KLM rose 0.51 to 11.16 and TPG gained 0.58 to 16.95, helped by the fall in oil prices after Iraq accepted the UN resolution on weapons inspections.

By contrast, Royal Dutch Petroleum shed 0.04 to 42.74 and IHC Caland fell 0.78 to 46.62.

KPN was up 0.22 to 6.37 after 3i hinted that KPN may announce the sale of its Telemedia unit tomorrow, which is expected to fetch €470-€510m.

Vodafone-Libertel put on 0.52 to 9.17.

Versatel fell 0.03 to 0.30 after reporting positive EBITDA for the third quarter. The company also said it is renegotiating its credit facility and may restate results based on new SEC rules for telecom asset swaps and differences in US and Dutch GAAP.

Financials were higher, with Aegon up 0.45 at 12.95 after Williams de Broe cut its 2003 earnings forecast by 25% due to the ongoing impact of lower interest rates and continuing weak equity markets on deferred acquisition costs, guaranteed benefits and margins.

ABN Amro was up 0.24 to 15.12, ING advanced 0.30 to 15.58, Fortis added 0.16 at 17.72 and Van der Moolen lifted 0.58 to 21.04. Nedlloyd added 0.25 at 12.20 after posting a loss per share of €1.55 in the third quarter, in line with analyst expectations of 1.18-1.64.

Corus was the strongest decliner, down 0.06 to 0.47, still smarting from yesterday's news it was pulling out of the deal with CSN.

ASML lost 0.03 to 8.30 after Applied Materials warned for a weak current quarter. Getronics was down 0.02 to 0.73 while Philips added 0.46 at 16.74, CMG put on 0.03 to 1.08 and ASMI went up 0.22 to 11.20.

Oce was down 0.28 to 10.18.

Among food and drink related issues, Unilever fell 0.65 to 61.60 and Ahold lost 0.04 to 11.75 while Numico edged 0.13 higher to 11.94.