October 11, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 17, 1427

LONDON, Oct 10: European equities climbed on Tuesday after Tokyo and New York markets shrugged off investor concerns over North Korea's first atom bomb test, dealers said.

Paris dealers meanwhile focused on comments that a rescue plan for crisis-hit aircraft maker Airbus will be pursued rapidly by the new chief executive Louis Gallois.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.20 per cent to 6,043.10 points, in Paris the CAC 40 index gained 0.43 per cent to 5,307.64 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 index added 0.35 per cent to 6,105.71.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares won 0.36 per cent to 3,953.68 points.

The euro stood at 1.2571 dollars.

In Paris on Tuesday, shares in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space group surged 3.37 per cent to 20.84 euros, one day after the appointment of Louis Gallois at the helm of its Airbus division.

A rescue plan for the troubled European aircraft company Airbus will be implemented quickly, with job cuts and production site reviews among the top priorities, Gallois said on Tuesday.

A day after he replaced former Airbus CEO Christian Streiff, Gallois told Europe 1 radio that the plan would include the “eliminations of posts, and we will have to pose questions about sites”.

In London, British defence giant BAE Systems -- which is in the process of selling its 20-per cent stake in Airbus to EADS -- saw its share price jump 1.06 per cent to 404.75 pence.

Wall Street had closed higher on Monday as the market showed little reaction to North Korea's nuclear test announcement which triggered calls for a tough United Nations response from countries including the United States, Japan and Britain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06 per cent to close at 11,857.81 points on Monday after flirting with its all-time record high set last week.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.51 per cent to 2,311.77 points and the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index was up 0.08 per cent at 1,350.66.

Trading activity was light amid a lack of US economic news and the Columbus Day holiday, with banks and government offices closed.

Back in Asia on Tuesday, Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index closed up 0.84 per cent at 17,823.70 points, as investors took comfort from Japanese and US trading, dealers said.

—AFP