August 30, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 5, 1427

LONDON, Aug 29: London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares higher on Tuesday as traders returned to work after a long holiday weekend in Britain,

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.30 per cent to 5,896.40 points and and was joined on the rise by the French CAC 40 in Paris which increased by 0.37 per cent to 5,167.54 points.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dipped 0.15 per cent to 5,845.93 points. The DAX and CAC had staged sharp rebounds Monday, partly in response to a sharp fall in the price of crude oil.

In late morning trade on Tuesday, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares eased 0.04 per cent to 3,807.09 points.

The euro stood at 1.2824 dollars. US stocks closed higher Monday, also boosted by the weakening of oil prices, and as pipeline operator Kinder Morgan said it was being taken over through a management buyout worth 22.0 billion dollars, dealers said.

Crude futures closed down almost two dollars per barrel on Monday owing to reduced supply concerns.

Japanese share prices snapped a four-day losing streak Tuesday as bargain-hunters emerged, encouraged by overnight gains on Wall Street and a fall in domestic unemployment, dealers said.

In London, British Airways headed the FTSE 100, jumping 2.83 per cent to 409.25 pence owing to the drop in oil prices, dealers said.

The CAC 40 was led by EADS which was boosted by a report that Russian state bank Vneshtorgbank had accumulated a five per cent stake in the group.

The Moscow business daily Vedomosti quoted sources close to the bank and government officials as saying Vneshtorgbank had spent some 1.0 billion dollars (780 million euros) buying the stock in EADS.

The aerospace giant declined to comment on the report, and Vneshtorgbank was not immediately available Tuesday.

EADS, the parent company of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, appeared to shrug off news that a test flight by an Airbus A380 “superjumbo” scheduled for Tuesday morning had been postponed owing to technical problems.

In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 was dragged down owing to a fall in the share price of Bayer. The German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant reversed early gains, shedding 0.61 per cent to 39.30 euros.

The maker of Aspirin painkiller said it was cutting 1,500 jobs in its underperforming agrochemicals division. Bayer also published its second-quarter results, which came in slightly better than expected in the period from April to June.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.60 per cent at 11,352.01 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite won 0.95 per cent to 2,160.70.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index climbed 0.52 per cent to 1,301.78 points.—AFP