Anglo American said it will retain a 19.9% stake in Anglo American Platinum after its planned demerger this summer. The London-listed miner said Monday it intends to retain the shareholding in the platinum business in an attempt to manage share flowback and offset the risk of existing shareholders selling the stock after the demerger. Anglo American said it does intend to sell the remainder of its retained shares over time, and said that it will not hold any representation on the Anglo American Platinum board after the split. Anglo American’s decision to retain a stake after the demerger is not the clean break analysts had expected, RBC Capital Markets analysts Ben Davis and Marina Calero wrote. “This should help with the possible flowback issues on the stock, particularly from passive index holders of Anglo American that would mechanically be selling the shares post demerger,” they wrote. The update came as Anglo American Platinum, which is based in South Africa, declared a final dividend of 16.5 billion rand ($900.2 million) on Monday. This would be paid to shareholders before the demerger, the company said. The dividend consists of a base dividend of 0.8 billion rand - or 3 rand per share - and an additional cash dividend of 15.7 billion rand, or 59 rand per share, the company said. Anglo American currently holds around 67% of Anglo American Platinum shares and said it expects to receive around $0.6 billion from the dividends.

The Swiss market started off on a sluggish note Monday morning, but steadied and stayed firm thereafter to eventually end the day's session modestly higher, in line with markets across Europe. Despite worries about tariffs, the mood remained a bit positive as major European markets climbed higher with defense stocks hogging the limelight as European leaders convened a meeting in Paris for talks on increasing defense expenditure to ramp up regional security. The benchmark SMI closed up 35.21 points or 0.27% at 12,875.08, after moving in a tight range between 12,831.39 and 12,881.26. Straumann Holding, ABB, Swiss Life Holding and Lonza Group gained 1 to 1.3%. UBS Group, Zurich Insurance Group, Holcim, Swiss Re, Alcon, Novartis and Julius Baer closed higher by 0.3 to 0.85%. Shares of dermatology company Galderma climbed about 1.7%, lifted by an announcement that the company has obtained the UK medicines regulator's approval for Nemluvio to treat moderate-to-severe prurigo nodularis and atopic dermatitis. Sandoz Group ended down 3.7%. Sonova closed lower by 1.19%. Swisscom, SGS, Sika, Schindler Ps, Swatch Group and Givaudan also ended weak.

European stocks closed broadly higher on Monday with those from defense companies hogging the limelight as leaders of European countries convened a meeting in Paris for talks on Ukraine and to ramp up regional security. The emergency meeting of European leaders comes after the Trump administration announced that it was opening talks with Russia on ending the war with Ukraine without a European presence. Shares of arms manufacturers and related companies rallied sharply as European policymakers pledged to increase defense spending amid concerns of lower US contributions to NATO security, ahead of talks between US and Russia delegations over a resolution in the war in Ukraine this week. According to reports, French president Emmanuel Macron spoke with US president Donald Trump ahead of the meeting of European leaders. Concerns about the potential impact of higher tariffs by U.S. weighed a bit and limited markets' upside. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.54%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.41%, Germany's DAX ended stronger by 1.26% and France's CAC 40 edged up 0.13%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.27%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Spain and Sweden ended notably higher. Russia closed nearly 4% up. Belgium, Netherlands and Norway closed modestly higher, while Portugal and Turkiye ended weak. In the UK market, defence firm BAE Systems' shares rallied about 9%. Multi-national aero spacec and defence company Rolls-Royce Holding gained about 1.5%. Schrodders, Barclays Group, Natwest, Haleon and Coca-Cola gained 2.4 to 3.5%. Reckitt Benckiser, Entain, Next, Melrose Industries, HSBC Holdings, Admiral, Pearson, 3i, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, EasyJet and Intercontinental Hotels gained 1 to 2%. Lloyds Banking ended nearly 2.5% down. B&M European Value Retail, British American Tobacco, Phoenix Holdings, Unite Group, Airtel Africa, Segro, Vodafone Group, Fresnillo, Persimmon and BP lost 1 to 2.2%. In the German market, shares of arms manufacturer Rheinmetall soared 15%, contributing substantially to market's rise. The stock surged amid reports the European leaders are considering a new defense spending package to assist Ukraine. Any big jump in Europe's defense budget is a positive Rheinmetall, which has already been seeing a surge in military orders. Siemens Energy climbed about 3.75%. Munich RE, MTU Aero Engines and Deutsche Bank gained about 2.5%. Hannover Rueck, Allianz, Porsche, Zalando, BMW, Beiersdorf, Fresenius Medical Care, Deutsche Telekom, SAP and Infineon advanced 1 to 2%. Vonovia, Sartorius, Symrise, Puma, Commerzbank, Henkel, Covestro and Merck closed weak.

U.S. markets were closed yesterday for Presidents Day.

On Tuesday, positive signs predominated on the stock markets in East Asia. The US stock markets were closed on Monday due to a public holiday, so there was no impetus from there. Uncertainty over US trade policy initially put the brakes on trading, but prices then rose over the course of the day. Hong Kong saw a strong upward trend. There, significant gains in technology stocks lifted the Hang Seng Index by 1.9 per cent. The technology sub-index rises by 3.2 per cent. The sector is receiving a tailwind from a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the heads of the major domestic companies in the sector, according to market participants.

On the European bond market, the yield on the 10-year German Bund gained 6 basis points (0.06 percentage point) to 2.49%. The yield on the French OAT with the same maturity rose by 5 basis points to 3.17%.

UBS raises Barclays target to 350 (340) p – Buy
Bank of America raises Heineken target to EUR 97 (85) – Buy
Citi raises Saab to Buy (Neutral) –Target SEK 260 (225)

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