FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Shares of Brenntag surged on Wednesday, buoyed by solid business figures, while Evonik and Lanxess dropped to new lows.
The shares of chemical distributor Brenntag climbed by up to nine percent shortly after trading began. Analyst Chetan Udeshi of JPMorgan commented that the third-quarter results were better than feared.
Even in an otherwise highly pessimistic sector analysis by Barclays expert Gaurav Jain, Brenntag fares comparatively well. Jain considers the European chemicals sector to be structurally impaired, but finds chemical distributors relatively well positioned.
Meanwhile, he downgraded both Evonik and Lanxess--halving the price target for the latter and assigning an "Underweight" rating. Lanxess shares dropped by about one percent to EUR16.88, marking their lowest level since 2009.
Evonik had already hit a record low the previous day, following sell recommendations from Goldman Sachs and the analysis firm Jefferies. On Wednesday, Evonik shares stabilized, edging up by 0.1 percent.
