LONDON (AFP) — Europe's main stock markets rose Friday, ending the week on a high note after strong rallies in Tokyo and on Wall Street ahead of a key summit by world finance chiefs, traders said.
Investors were meanwhile reacting to the latest reported twist in a supposed European battle to buy British Energy, as markets awaited Friday's Group of Seven (G7) meeting.
Finance ministers and central bankers from seven of the world's richest countries were to meet in Washington in the wake of sharp global growth downgrades by the International Monetary Fund.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading companies rose 0.72 percent to 6,008.00 points in late morning trade on Friday. Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.49 percent to 6,737.14 points and in Paris the CAC 40 won 1.07 percent to 4,911.65 approaching the halfway stage.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares advanced by 0.62 percent to 3,781.48 points. The euro rose to 1.5810 dollars.
"The (London stock) market is quite good at the moment following on from good gains in the US overnight and Asia today," said Philip Lawlor, strategist at Nomura.
Ahead of the G7 meeting, Japanese shares closed up by almost three percent on Friday as investors chased bargains after three days of falls, cheered by the rebound on Wall Street and a weaker yen which makes Japanese exports cheaper for foreign buyers, dealers said.
US stocks had gained Thursday as investors awaited the outcome of a flurry of activity centered around the Internet company Yahoo which is attempting to thwart a takeover bid from Microsoft.
Analysts said investors were no longer surprised by depressed economic news and were hoping that a multitude of interest rate cuts in recent months will fire up economic momentum later this year.
"The market seems to be handling an avalanche of bad economic news," said Fred Dickson, a market analyst at DA Davidson & Co.
In Europe, a report that French electricity and nuclear power group EDF was assembling a takeover bid for British Energy worth more than 11 billion pounds (13.7 billion euros, 21.7 billion dollars) lifted the value of shares in both companies.
EDF surged by 2.99 percent to 61.61 euros in Paris and British Energy gained 2.10 percent to 755 pence in London.
The Times newspaper, which cited an unnamed source, said that state-owned EDF was drawing up plans for a British Energy takeover bid pitched at more than 700 pence per share.
German power giant RWE, meanwhile, declined to comment Thursday after the Financial Times reported that it had submitted an indicative all-cash offer worth 11 billion pounds. RWE fell 0.25 percent to 78.50 euros in Friday trading.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
