September 19, 2006	Tuesday	Sha'aban 25, 1427

LONDON, Sept 18: European stock markets mostly gained on Monday, with Scania trucks jumping more than five per cent after the Swedish group rejected a takeover bid by German industrial group MAN.

Sweden's overall OMX index was showing a gain of 0.86 per cent in early trading after the country's centre-right opposition beat the Social Democrats in a national election over the weekend.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 0.10 per cent to 5,883.00 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 dipped 0.01 per cent to 5,937.23 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 index gained 0.22 per cent to 5,156.28.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares advanced 0.12 per cent to 3,816.87 points.

The euro stood at 1.2669 dollars. A tame US inflation report boosted Wall Street on Friday amid hopes that easing price pressures would see the Federal Reserve keep interest rates unchanged at a meeting on Wednesday, dealers said.

Tokyo's market was closed Monday owing to a national holiday in Japan. In Stockholm, the share price in Scania jumped 5.18 per cent to 446.5 pence after the Swedish truck maker rejected MAN's takeover bid worth 9.6 billion euros ($12.2 billion).

The price of shares in MAN slumped 4.34 per cent to 61.22 euros in Frankfurt.

Scania said in a statement that MAN had launched a bid for all of its shares and that the board had decided unanimously not to back it.

MAN had announced a short time earlier in Germany that its bid implied a premium of 36.0-39.0 per cent on the recent value of Scania shares, while it was aimed at creating the biggest truck maker in Europe and the third biggest in the world.

Elsewhere in Europe, London's FTSE 100 index won support from rebounding mining and oil stocks, which gained from higher commodity prices.

Energy company BG Group jumped 1.64 per cent to 650.5 pence and copper miner Kazakhmys advanced 1.49 per cent to 1,225 pence.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.29 per cent to 11,560.77 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite advanced 0.31 per cent to 2,235.69 points.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index increased 0.27 per cent to 1,319.87.—AFP