Euro bourses shine on easing oil prices

LONDON: European stock markets got a big boost yesterday from a strong start to trading on Wall Street, easing oil prices and a weaker euro, dealers said.

The British capital??™s FTSE 100 index of leading shares leapt by 2.0% to 5,833.9 points, Frankfurt??™s DAX 30 index added 2.33% to 5,578.05 points and the Paris CAC 40 also jumped by 2.0% to 4,914.93.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares soared by 2.13% to 3,632.93 points.

As European markets closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 1.46% to 11,026.55 points in New York and the Nasdaq Composite of high-tech shares was up by 1.86% at 2,057.91.

The broad Standard & Poor??™s 500 index showed a gain of 1.55% to 1,259.48.

London investors applauded a trading update from British mobile phone behemoth Vodafone, which repeated its financial targets for 2006/2007.

Vodafone shares then surged 3.60% to 115.25 pence. The company added that it won 4.5mn new customers during the first quarter of its financial year ??“ which was 500,000 more than market expectations.

In response, broker Merrill Lynch reiterated its ???buy??™ recommendation while Goldman Sachs argued there was room for a modest rally given the recent weakness in the stock.

BG Group saw its share price sink 1.89% to 697.06 pence however after the British energy company said that net profit fell by 10.0% during the second quarter owing to increased taxation on North Sea oil and gas firms.

In Amsterdam, the AEX index gained 2.20% to 445.92 points, the Swiss SMI was up by 2.13% at 7,780.28, in Milan the SP/Mib added 1.58% to 36,154, in Madrid the Ibex-35 rose by 2.01% to 11,561.6 and in Brussels the Bel-20 closed 1.96% higher at 3,732.27.

Dollar firms

The dollar was firm against the euro and yen in lacklustre trading here following earlier gains in Asia, dealers said.

The euro fell to $1.2632 in late European trade, from $1.2696 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to ??116.66 from ??116.14 late on Friday.

The euro was changing hands at $1.2632 against $1.2696 on Friday, ??147.38 (??147.43), ??0.6830 (??0.6825) and 1.5745 Swiss francs (1.5698).

On the London Bullion Market, the price of an ounce of gold fell to $605.70 per ounce, from $634 late on Friday. ??“ AFP