Reply #42: European shares end at day's highs, Wall St up [View All]

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=eurMktRpt&storyID=2007-07-23T164907Z_01_L23889363_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-EUROPE-STOCKS-UPDATE-3.XML

LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - European share indexes closed up on Monday, boosted by gains in U.S. stocks and a 3 percent jump in Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile , Research), which raised its bid for ABN AMRO (AAH.AS: Quote, Profile , Research) with the help of investments from China and Singapore.

Barclays also unveiled strong first-half results. ABN AMRO, which is also being courted by a consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile , Research), rose 0.7 percent.

"Royal Bank of Scotland is still the favourite, but the odds are a little bit different to what they were on Friday," said Colin Morton at Rensburg Fund Management, a holder of both Barclays and RBS stock. Shares in RBS rose 0.9 percent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> finished 0.6 percent stronger at 1,609.7, the day's high, paring Friday's 1.1 percent loss when disappointing U.S. results and troubles in the U.S. subprime market hit equities.The European index is up 8.5 percent so far this year.

By the close of European trading hours the Dow <.DJI> traded 0.8 percent higher and the Nasdaq <.IXIC> added 0.6 pct on takeover deals and strong earnings.

In a busy day for takeovers, shares in TomTom (TOM2.AS: Quote, Profile , Research), the world's biggest maker of car navigation devices, rallied 11 percent after it announced plans to buy its main map supplier, Tele Atlas (TA.AS: Quote, Profile , Research), whose shares jumped 31 percent.

"You have to begin to say that some deals are looking a bit over the top but I suppose (are) indicative of the strength of balance sheets and the cost of financing being so low," said Andrea Williams, head of European equities at Royal London Asset Management. Continued...

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