October 03, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 9, 1427

LONDON, Oct 2: European stock markets rose on Monday, the start of fourth-quarter trade, with strong gains across the water sector offsetting huge losses to gaming stocks in London.

Shares in online gambling companies listed in the British capital lost half their value Monday after a dramatic move by US authorities to ban gambling on the Internet.

Meanwhile water stocks gushed higher after British utility firm AWG backed a consortium takeover of the group worth 2.213 billion pounds (3.272 billion euros, 4.145 billion dollars).

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 0.37 percent to 5,982.60 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.33 per cent to 6,024.13 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 index rose 0.36 per cent to 5,269.94.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.28 per cent to 3,910.50 points.

The euro stood at 1.2681 dollars.

Wall Street shares closed lower Friday after mixed economic news as the Dow Jones blue-chip index failed again in a run toward an all-time record high.

In London water group AWG jumped 4.47 per cent to 1,614 pence after announcing an agreed 1,555-pence-per-share takeover by Osprey Acquisitions, an investment consortium comprising Canadian and Australian pension funds as well as British venture capital firm 3i.

The news led to strong gains for AWG's peers, with Kelda Group jumping 3.94 per cent to 884 pence and Seven Trent rising 3.07 per cent to 1,377 pence.

On the downside, meanwhile, PartyGaming plunged 55.61 per cent to 47.50 pence. Smaller online gaming groups tumbled also, led by Sportingbet, which shed 58.36 percent to 76.72 pence. 888 Holdings lost 32.42 per cent to 99 pence and Empire Online gave up 26.87 per cent to 49 pence.

The sell-off in the sector today is expected to be deep and farreaching,”broker firm Daniel Stewart wrote in a note to clients.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which ended the prior session just short of its record finish, closed down 0.34 per cent to 11,679.07 points.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.51 per cent to 2,258.43 points and the Standard and Poor's 500 index lost 0.25 per cent to 1,335.85.

In Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index climbed 0.79 per cent to 16,254.29 points, the strongest finish since September 6.

Dealers said the Bank of Japan's closely watched Tankan survey showed companies planned to ramp up capital spending although they are somewhat cautious about the outlook for later this year.—AFP