Frankfurt Dax: 5442 (+173.25)

German shares held gains in post-bourse Xetra DAX trading despite slight opening losses on Wall Street. Speculation about bank mergers helped to boost financial stocks. Dresdner Bank gained 4.3 per cent to 99.9 marks amid the merger speculation. SAP was up 5 per cent at 938.45 marks ahead of today's announcement of first quarter results.

Paris CAC-40: 3885.69 (+24.11)

French shares closed higher yesterday but below the 3,900 level and short of their day high as the dollar gave up early gains and Wall Street made an easier start. Dior surged in small volume as lower first quarter sales were better than expected due to Asia fears.

Milan Mibtel: 25,199 (-101)

The Milan bourse ended down on Monday after the Dow weakness weighed on shares. A handful of banks held early gains to end sharply higher on merger speculation. BCI ended 4.41 per cent up at 10,270 lire on talk that it could be the next Italian bank to announce a merger.