March 4, 2006	Saturday	Safar 3, 1427

LONDON, March 3: European stock markets rose on Friday, shrugging off an overnight drop on Wall Street amid rising oil prices, while London investors examined speculation of a potential takeover of BT Group.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.47 per cent to 5,860.66 points in early deals, in Paris the CAC 40 increased 0.26 per cent to 5,021.88 and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.19 per cent to 5,794.37 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares firmed 0.01 per cent to 3,764.13 points. The euro stood at $1.2025.

In trading in London, the price of shares in BT soared by 3.97 per cent to 216.25 pence following a report in the London Times newspaper, which suggested the telecoms giant was being examined as a potential bid target by numerous global private equity firms.

A takeover could value BT at a minimum of 20.0 billion pounds (29 billion euros, 35 billion dollars), the paper added. Broker Merrill Lynch said that the offer could be in the region of 240 pence per share.

Shares in Cairn Energy, meanwhile, shot up 3.93 per cent to 2,037 pence on hopes that India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) could bid for its Rajasthan assets.

Over in Paris, Publicis shares jumped 2.25 per cent to 33.13 euros after the French advertising group reported a 39.0-per cent jump in 2005 net profit to 386.0 million euros (463.2 million dollars), beating analysts’ forecasts.

US stocks lost ground Thursday as investors turned cautious in response to a jump in long-term interest rates, a spike in crude oil prices and a mixed sales performance from retailers in February.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, rallied $1.39 to close at 63.36 dollars a barrel on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25 per cent to 11,025.51 points.

The Nasdaq composite shed 0.15 per cent to 2,311.11 and the Standard and Poor’s 500 broad-market index dropped 0.16 per cent to 1,289.14 points.

Japanese share prices closed sharply lower Friday as a jump in consumer inflation spooked investors nervous about an expected end to the Bank of Japan’s ultra-loose monetary policy, dealers said.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 1.55 per cent to close at 15,663.34 points.

Hong Kong’s key Hang Seng Index closed 0.51 per cent lower at 15,802.00 points as investors turned cautious ahead of 2005 results announcements from HSBC and its unit Hang Seng Bank on Monday, dealers said.—AFP