October 07, 2006	Saturday	Ramazan 13, 1427

LONDON, Oct 6: European equity markets steadied on Friday as the aerospace sector drew investors' attention, following another overnight record for Wall Street's Dow Jones index, dealers said. London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares edged up 0.03 per cent to 6,006.50 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.08 per cent to 6,080.30, while in Paris, the CAC 40 index slid 0.03 per cent to 5,295.98 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.12 per cent to 3,944.48 points.

The euro stood at 1.2683 dollars.

US stocks had extended gains on Thursday as the Dow Jones industrials drifted up to a third straight record close, with buying sentiment strong in the absence of any major economic news.

Japanese share prices closed little changed Friday, holding near five-month highs as investors turned cautious ahead of US jobs data and a feared nuclear test by North Korea, dealers said.

British aerospace giant Rolls-Royce said on Friday that it had suspended production of its Trent 900 jet engines for 12 months owing to fresh delays to the Airbus A380 superjumbo. The news sent Rolls-Royce shares tumbling 1.13 per cent to 457.5 pence in London deals.

In Paris, shares in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company plunged 2.71 per cent to 20.48 euros. EADS owns 80 per cent of Airbus.Added to the picture, a report said Friday that deliveries of Airbus's new military transport plane, the A400M, could be up to two years late.

The German military had been expected to take delivery of its first A400Ms in 2010, but they will not be ready until 2012 because of technical problems, Die Welt newspaper said quoting sources from the defence ministry.

In Frankfurt however, auto giant DaimlerChrysler -- which owns 22.3 per cent of EADS -- saw its shares gain 0.33 per cent to 39.89 euros.

Back in London, shares in Corus retreated 1.0 per cent to 469 pence on profit taking.

The stock had soared 16.5 per cent on Thursday on the back of Indian giant Tata Steel's confirmation that was mulling a possible takeover of the Anglo-Dutch firm.

Across the pond on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.14 per cent to 11,866.69 points as the blue-chip index posted its third record closing high in as many days.

The tech-rich Nasdaq climbed 0.67 per cent to 2,306.34 while the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index increased 0.22 per cent to 1,353.22 points.—AFP