A rebound above dollar parity for the euro supported Frankfurt, lifting the Xetra Dax index against the broad European trend for the second day running. The benchmark finished up 17.41 at 7,607.94 after a session that ranged from a low point of 7,540.36 to a best of the day 7,725.50.
Utilities led the upturn after Veba announced that it had successfully completed a data transmission pilot test. The shares shot up 11 per cent or €5.20 to €52.50 and put fresh impetus into the rest of the power sector. Viag, which is in the process of merging with Veba, jumped €2.11 or 11.1 per cent to €21.10 while RWE added 59 cents at €35.35. The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index added 0.2 per cent at 1,414.01 but the FTSE Eurotop 100 index eased 0.6 per cent at 3,568.40. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index shed 0.6 per cent at 1,523.19.
Selected banks were also upbeat on a combination of consolidation rumours and hopes for e-commerce expansion. Deutsche Bank rose €3.66 to €88.88. HypoVereinsbanken ended €1.29 better at €62.99 after predicting a strong recovery for the current year.
Paris pared early gains with renewed advances for leading tech stocks offset by profit-taking among selected cyclicals. The CAC-40 index ended off 3.97 at 5,963.31.
Equant added €1.70 at €116 and Lagardere €1.65 at €92.35. Alcatel rallied €1.10 at €237.50 in choppy trading as investors awaited news of the group's long mooted take-over bid for Canadian telecoms equipment leader, Newbridge Networks.
Amsterdam fell for the third day running, ending a mixed session with the AEX index down 2.06 at 647.28. Philips rose €3.55 to €170.55, ABN-Amro stood out in a weak financials sector with a gain of 88 cents to €21.72 KPN jumped €5.25 to €115.15 after the European Commission gave the green light to the telecoms leader's joint takeover (with Bell South of the US) of German mobile phone group E-Plus.
Madrid was hit by late selling with falls for most blue chips offsetting a strong session for utilities which met with buying ahead of the sector's results season. The Ibex 35 index shed 183.4 at 12,076.9.
Milan finished little changed. Mibtel index was up 18.00 at 31,777.
