Euro shares advance as Dow nears record

LONDON: European stock markets advanced yesterday as Wall Street??™s Dow Jones share index flirted with a fresh all-time high after a better than expected report on the US housing market.

The London FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.96% to close at 5,930.10 points. In Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.45% to finish at 5,243.10 while in Frankfurt the DAX added 0.49% to reach 5,989.71 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.60% to 3,896.18.

The euro stood at $1.2700 in late European trading.

In New York, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chip shares was up 0.36% at 11,711.81 points in late morning trade, within just a few points of the all-time closing high of 11,722.98 it reached on January 14, 2000.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite meanwhile increased 0.32% to 2,268.62 and the Standard and Poor??™s 500 index edged up 0.18% to 1,338.70.

Investors mulled a report showing sales of new US homes rose a faster than expected 4.1% last month to register their first increase since March.

This eased concerns about a sharp downturn in the US real estate market and helped offset another report showing orders for US durable goods surprisingly fell 0.5% last month.

The homes sales data suggested a trend that "will keep the housing market from experiencing an all-out crash", analysts at Briefing.com said.

Frederic Dickson, market strategist at DA Davidson and Co, said there had been strong momentum going into the final days of the quarter, with fund managers dressing up portfolios to include the best-performing stocks of the period.

In London, mining stocks were once again in demand as commodity prices continued to recover from recent weakness

Shares in the Anglo-Swiss mining company Xstrata were up 2.23% at 2,157 pence, while Anglo American gained 3.64% to 2,220 pence, BHP Billiton moved 3.37% higher to 921 pence, and Rio Tinto went up 2.79% to 2,502 pence.

In Paris, Peugeot-Citroen was an all-day winner, closing up 5.33% at 45.87 euros. Its outgoing chief executive unveiled late on Tuesday a plan to cut costs for the automaker, whose core western European sales have been hit by intense competition in recent months.

In Frankfurt, shares in Continental, the maker of tyres and auto parts, topped the DAX leaders, gaining 4.74% at 92.08 euros, with the market cheering speculation the group might be a takeover target, dealers said.

Last week, Continental said it had been approached by an unnamed private equity group, which was interested in a takeover. But it later said the talks had ended.

Elsewhere in Europe, markets closed higher with both Madrid and Zurich breaking records.

Madrid??™s Ibex 35 closed up 2.64% at a record 12,950 points, thanks largely to activity in the energy sector. In Zurich, the Swiss SMI index closed up 0.36% at 8,413.07, a record for the Swiss bourse.

In Milan the SP/Mib closed up 0.30% at 38,329 points, in Amsterdam the AEX gained 0.29% to 481.90 points, in Brussels the Bel 20 rose 0.78% to 4,062.43 and in Lisbon the PSI-20 rose 1.47% to 10,241.05. ??“ AFP