London: European stock markets rebounded on Monday as oil prices decreased, the euro was stable, and telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) stocks staged a strong comeback after losses last week. In the 11-nation euro zone, the Euro Stoxx 50 index was up by 0.80 per cent to 4,984.88 points. The yield on the benchmark German 10-year bond was at 5.266 per cent, up from 5.2320 percent on Friday.The FTSE-100 index gained 0.82 per cent to close at 6,257.10 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX finished at 6,788.69 points, up 48.44 points or 0.72 percent. The Paris CAC-40 closed at 6,336.28 points, up 1.24 percent. In London, strong early gains were dampened by early losses on Wall Street, but distribution, TMT, and utility shares helped the Footsie reach positive territory.
Kingfisher soared 11.2 per cent to 473 pence on rumors that the French distributor Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) was about to launch a public share offer for it. Thames Water gained 4.3 percent to 1,210 pence after the leading German energy company RWE said it would buy the British utility for 7.1 billion euros (6.24 billion dollars).
Among the TMTs which staged comebacks was market heavyweight Vodafone, which gained 2.65 percent to 242.25 pence. British Telecom was 2.04 percent higher at 750 pence, Colt Telecom gained 6.37 per cent at 2,005 pence, and Cable and Wireless surged 5.11 percent to 967 pence. The electronics firm Marconi saw its shares jump 10.4 percent to 1,038 pence.
Among the falling stocks was CGNU, which announced it was selling its US general insurance activities. Its shares dropped 2.7 per cent to 1,010 pence. Oil companies also suffered from lower prices, with BP off 3.0 percent at 595 pence and Shell also down by 3.0 per cent, at 550 pence.
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom, which gained 3.7 per cent at 40.08, was edged out by SAP as the top performer on the blue chip board. SAP gained 4.99 percent at 273.60 euros. Other technology stocks were firmer, with Siemens up 3.93 percent at 158.50 euros and Epcos up 0.09 euros at 94.79 euros. RWE, down 0.93 euros at 38.90 euros, was the focus of interest after confirming it has made a cash offer to acquire Britain's Thames Water.
Financials were generally down but Dresdner, up 1.21 euros at 50.11 euros, and HypoVereinsbank, up 0.11 euros at 62.10 euros, bucked the trend. Dresdner Bank said it would end all eastern European joint ventures with cooperation partner BNP-Paribas because of competitive conflicts that have arisen since the 1999 merger of Banque Nationale de Paris and Paribas.
In Paris, the news pushed shares in the French banking group 2.63 per cent higher to 97.60 euros. The overall market was stronger because of the oil and euro developments since last week.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.