September 26, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 2, 1427

LONDON, Sept 25: European stock markets advanced on Monday as oil-exposed stocks benefited from crude prices sinking beneath $60 per barrel, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 of leading shares won 0.30 per cent to 5,839.60 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.71 per cent to 5,924.90 and in Paris, the CAC 40 index added 0.79 per cent to 5,182.65 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.61 per cent to 3,835.93 points.

The euro stood at $1.2772.

Wall Street shares slipped Friday as investors retrenched for a second consecutive day on concerns that weakness in the US industrial sector could drag down the overall economy.

Japanese share prices closed little changed on Monday, coming off early low points in cautious trade as worries over the slowing US economy continued to weigh on investor sentiment, dealers said.

World oil prices struck the lowest levels for more than six months on Monday as supply tensions continued to ease, dealers said.

Low crude prices bite less into corporate profits and diminish the risk of weaker economic growth.

In London trading on Monday, cruise operator Carnival jumped 2.56 per cent to 2,446 pence and British Airways won 0.53 percent to 566 pence.

In Frankfurt, carmakers Volkswagen and BMW saw their share prices rise 1.15 per cent and 0.86 per cent respectively to 66 euros and 40.82 euros.Energy shares, meanwhile, were dealt a blow by weak crude futures.

In Paris, French oil giant Total slipped 0.54 percent to 49.93 euros, while BP shares fell 1.39 per cent to 566 pence in London.

Staying with the British capital, ICAP shares firmed 0.15 per cent to 513.75 pence after the brokerage confirmed it had held abortive merger discussions with the London Stock Exchange. LSE shares gained 0.32 per cent to 1,247 pence.

Before the weekend on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.22 per cent to close at 11,508.10 points Friday, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slumped 0.84 per cent to 2,218.93 points.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index retreated 0.25 per cent to close at 1,314.78 points.

With no major economic data on tap, sentiment remained weak a day after the market was jolted by a weak industry survey from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve that stoked fears that economic activity is slowing down.

In Asia on Monday, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index was flat at 15,633.81 points.

Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index fell 0.31 per cent to finish at 17,546.04 points as concerns over the state of the US economy weighed on investors'—AFP