European stocks moving in different directions

Negativity comes from macroeconomic data on the volume of construction in the EU, as well as data on car sales, which were published yesterday. Sales of passenger cars in the European Union in January 2013 fell to a record low. European automakers association ACEA said on Tuesday, February 18, that the first month of sales decreased by 8.7 percent compared to the same period last year to 885,159 new cars. January is the lowest figure since 1990, when the ACEA began keeping such records.

Positive news coming out of Greece, where the current account deficit of the balance of payments for 2012. declined by 73% year on year and reached the lowest level since the country's accession to the eurozone.

Influence it reduce imports and reduced rates on sovereign debt.

The course of today's trading may also affect stat data on real estate market in the U.S., which will be published at 15:30 Moscow time.

FTSE 100 6,403.31 +24.24 +0.38%

DAX 7,770.67 +18.22 +0.24%

CAC 3,730.45 -5.32 -0.14%

Capitalization of Lafarge SA, the world's leading cement producer, rose by 4.8%. EBITDA of the company for October-December rose to 856 million euros from 798 million euros, while the market expected figure at 821.6 million euros. In 2012 Lafarge has sold assets for 900 million euros, not one billion euros, as the company originally planned. Receivable decreased in the fourth quarter by 5% - to 11.3 million euros. The head of Lafarge Bruno Lafont intends to reduce debt below the level of 10 billion euros.

Shares of Credit Agricole SA rose 1.7% despite the fact that the French bank reported a record loss in the fourth quarter due to write-offs of goodwill in the Italian divisions. In the past quarter net loss of 3.98 billion euros, an increase of 30% compared to the same period of 2011.

Capitalization of Deutsche Lufthansa fell 3.9% on the information that the airline refuses to pay dividends in 2013 for the first time since 2010.