March 18, 2006	Saturday	Safar 17, 1427

LONDON, March 17: European stock markets were mixed on Friday, but London’s FTSE 100 briefly breached 6,000 points for the first time in five years on strong company results and takeover news, dealers said.

Insurers led the FTSE 100 index of leading shares after Legal and General delivered a better-than-expected 43-percent rise in annual profit.

On the second-tier FTSE 250, Body Shop surged more than 10.0 per cent after agreeing to be bought by the French cosmetics giant L’Oreal.

Back on the FTSE 100 shares in Vodafone came in for some choppy trading after the world’s biggest mobile phone company agreed to sell its struggling Japanese unit to that country’s Internet and telecoms group Softbank Corp for 8.9 billion pounds.

London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.10 per cent to close at 5,999.4 points, after breaking above 6,000 points for the first time since March 9, 2001. The index hit 6,044.00 points — the highest since March 8 that year.

In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 shed 0.26pc to 5,882.38 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.29pc to finish at 5,141.08.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased slipped 0.19pc to 3,832.43 points.—AFP