Sun, Mar 19, 2006 page10

• FTSE 100 breaches 6,000 for first time in five years

  SOLID RALLY Strong earnings results and takeover news from Vodafone and L'Oreal boosted share prices, with London markets reminding analysts of the 1990s

  • AFP
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  European stock markets were mixed on Friday, but London's FTSE 100 briefly breached 6,000 points for the first time in five years on strong company results and takeover news, dealers said.

  Insurers led the FTSE 100 index of leading shares after Legal and General delivered a better-than-expected 43-percent rise in annual profit.

  On the second-tier FTSE 250, Body Shop surged more than 10.0 percent after agreeing to be bought by the French cosmetics giant L'Oreal.

  

  A woman looks at a financial indicator board in west London displaying the FTSE 100 index reaching more than 6,000 points for the first time since 2001 on Friday.

  PHOTO: AP

  Back on the FTSE 100 shares in Vodafone came in for some choppy trading after the world's biggest mobile phone company agreed to sell its struggling Japanese unit to that country's Internet and telecoms group Softbank Corp for ?8.9 billion (US$15.6 billion).

  Vodafone said it would use the money to return ?6 billion in cash to shareholders.

  London's FTSE 100 index added 0.10 percent to close at 5,999.4 points, after breaking above 6,000 points for the first time since March 9, 2001. The index hit 6,044.00 points -- the highest since March 8 that year.

  "Even with all the worries in the world economy -- from war in Iraq to potential plague from avian flu -- the FTSE 100 has been experiencing a rally to match the height of the stock market boom in the late 1990s," said Clem Chambers, chief executive of trading Web site ADVFN.

  In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 shed 0.26 percent to 5,882.38 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.29 percent to finish at 5,141.08.

  The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased slipped 0.19 percent to 3,832.43 points.

  The euro stood at US$1.2196.

  In midday trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen by 0.12 percent to 11,267.08 points in New York, while the tech heavy NASDAQ composite had gained 0.17 percent at 2,303.45.

  The broad Standard & Poor's 500 showed a gain of 0.10 percent to 1,306.68.

  In Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark NIKKEI-225 index rallied 1.51 percent to close at 16,339.73 points.

  Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index finished up 0.46 percent at 15,801.66 points as investors welcomed stronger-than-expected results for last year from China Mobile and tame US inflation data.

  In London, Legal and General surged 7.09 percent to ?1.4350 after the UK's third-biggest listed life insurer said 2005 operating profit came in at ?1.092 billion.

  The news boosted peers, with Prudential also rising 7.09 percent to ?6.72 and Aviva up 2.84 percent at ?8.5050.

  Elsewhere Vodafone shares initially surged before profit taking set in to trim their value by 0.77 percent to ?1.29, even as investors cheered the decision to sell Vodafone KK in Japan and return money to shareholders.

  In Madrid, Grupo Ferrovial shares surged 2.35 percent to 63.10 euros (US$76.84) after the Spanish construction group made an informal takeover bid for British airports operator BAA at ?8.10 per share.

  The bid, valuing BAA at about ?8.72 billion, helped nudge Spain's IBEX 35 index 0.09 percent higher to 11,872.9 points.

  BAA rejected the offer, however, sending its share price down 1.25 percent to ?8.2850 in London trading.

  On the British capital's FTSE 250, Body Shop rocketed 10.45 percent to ?2.96 on news of its sale to L'Oreal at ?3.00 per share. After initially rising, L'Oreal shares finally shed 0.34 percent to 74.35 euros in Paris.

  In Amsterdam, the AEX index was virtually unchanged at 464.05 points, the Swiss SMI added 0.36 percent to 8,047.12, in Milan the SP/MIB slipped 0.44 percent to 38,364 and in Brussels the BEL-20 closed up 0.33 percent at 3,955.30.
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