Stocks: Weekly’s review

Asian stocks rose for the first time in five days as Greece scrapped a plan to hold a referendum on a bailout package and the European Central Bank cut interest rates, reducing concern the debt crisis will spur a credit crunch. Stocks tumbled in the last four days after Prime Minister George Papandreou announced on Oct. 31 a parliamentary confidence vote and his desire to hold a referendum on Europe’s rescue pact.

European stocks fell, capping the first weekly decline in six weeks, after the Group of 20 failed to agree on boosting the International Monetary Fund’s resources and German factory data fueled concern the region is slipping into recession.

Global policy makers are awaiting more details of a week- old rescue package before they commit fresh cash to the IMF which could then lend to Europe’s bailout facility, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the end of a G-20 summit in Cannes, France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it may take until February for a deal.

German factory orders unexpectedly plunged in September as demand from the euro region slumped, adding to signs the debt crisis is damping growth in Europe’s largest economy. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, fell 4.3 percent from August, when they dropped 1.4 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said in a statement today. It’s the third straight month orders have declined.

National benchmark indexes retreated in all but three of the 18 western European markets. France’s CAC 40 dropped 2.3 percent and Germany’s DAX declined 2.7 percent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slid 0.3 percent.

Alcatel-Lucent SA, France’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, slumped to the lowest price in more than two years as it cut its full-year profit margin forecast.

Commerzbank AG dropped 6.3 percent after reporting a bigger- than-estimated quarterly loss on Greek-debt writedowns.

Fiat SpA, Italy’s biggest automaker, lost 5.5 percent to 4.14 euros as a gauge of European carmakers was the worst performer of the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600, sliding 3.5 percent.

Hermes International SCA, the French maker of Birkin bags and silk scarves, advanced 3.1 percent to 252.20 euros after raising its full-year revenue growth target to a range of 15 percent to 16 percent at constant exchange rates, from its previous forecast for an increase of as much as 14 percent.

Lundin Petroleum AB rose 2.6 percent to 173.50 kronor, the highest price since at least September 2001.

Rheinmetall AG, the maker of defense equipment and car parts, jumped 5.8 percent to 37.15 euros after Juergen Pieper, an analyst at Bankhaus Metzler, upgraded the company’s shares to “buy” from “sell.”