Frankfurt DAX: Germany's blue-chip DAX index vaulted over the 3900 level boosted by a firmer Dow and steady dollar, but dealers said volumes were thin and further consolidation was likely.

A firm start on Wall Street helped shares extend gains in post-bourse electronic trade and the IBIS DAX index ended at 3,931.81.

Ahead of today's expiry of options on the DAX index, traders said dealings would be relatively volatile.

They said range-trading was likely to be the order of the day for a while to come, but pointed out that the fundamentals for the German market still remained strong.

"Markets generally now are consolidating, given the volatility we've been having over the last few weeks, and I think we're going to see trading-range behaviour for a little while yet," said one dealer.

Paris CAC-40: The Paris Bourse posted a sizeable advance yesterday, the last day of the November trading month, as the CAC-40 index finished at 2821.19 points, up 1.10 per cent from the Wednesday close. The indicator had opened with a 0.39 per cent gain. Traders said a stand-down in the Iraq-UN crisis also lent support.

"There was a mix of positive phenomena that has underpinned the market today - a good start in New York, a firm dollar, bid rumours in the financial sector," said Mr Frederic Bestel, trader at Wargny.

Bank BNP starred with the second-biggest turnover of 450 million francs. Traders said there was renewed takeover speculation after Deutsche Bank chairman, Mr Rolf Breuer said in an interview with the Journal de Geneve the bank wished to expand in France.

Milan Mibtel: Italian shares ended firmer yesterday boosted by a higher Wall Street and soaring Btp bond futures on hopes of an imminent Bank of Italy discount rate cut after expected market-friendly November CPI data from seven Italian cities.

Dealers said the Fib30 stock futures index broke through important levels at 22,900 and then 23,000 triggering stop-loss buying ahead of today's futures and options expiries. The All-share Mibtel index ended 1.39 per cent up at 15,296 after a session high at 15,341 and the Mib30 blue-chip index closed up 1.54 per cent at 22,839 after a 22,925 peak. The Fib30 December contract was up 0.96 pct at 23,000 after a 23,090 session high. Among blue-chip stocks, Fiat put on 4.27 per cent to 4,910 lire.

The Italian Senate approved the 1998 finance bill yesterday evening, calling for a cut in the budget deficit to 25 trillion lire (£10 billion).