October 14, 2006	Saturday	Ramazan 20, 1427

LONDON, Oct 13: European stock markets steadied on Friday, despite fresh record highs on Wall Street overnight, which gave a lift also to Japanese share prices.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares edged up 0.04 per cent to 6,123.90 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index gained 0.01 per cent to 6,161.08 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 index eased 0.09 per cent to 5,356.45 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares decreased 0.14 per cent to 3,994.43 points.

The euro stood at 1.2560 dollars.

In Paris the CAC 40 has reached for highest level for more than five years this week, while the FTSE 100 closed Thursday at the highest level since April 21.

The heavyweight mining sector continued to support the FTSE on Friday.

Anglo-Australian mining group BHP Billiton jumped 1.34 per cent to 984 pence and Swiss peer Xstrata gained 1.33 per cent to 2,216 pence as base metals prices struck record high points in London.

Wall Street shares had surged on Thursday on the back of upbeat news on the corporate earnings front, lifting the Dow Jones index to a fresh all-time record high.

That helped Japanese share prices to hit fresh five-month highs on Friday, dealers said.

In Europe there was much news flying about EADS, whose share price climbed 0.61 per cent to 21.5 euros.

DaimlerChrysler rose 0.25 per cent to 40.59 euros amid a report that German government officials and the state-owned redevelopment bank KfW are preparing a contract for the bank to buy the German-US auto giant's stake in European aerospace giant EADS early next year.

The contract would be ready for signature by the end of this year, the Financial Times said, quoting one official as commenting that Germany did not want a block of shares to fall into French or Russian hands.

Meanwhile a separate report said EADS would consider selling some Airbus factories provided that new owners could reduce operating costs.

EADS co-chairman Manfred Bischoff told the International Herald Tribune newspaper that EADS would be open to selling factories but only if the buyers could operate them, as sub contractors, more cheaply than Airbus.

Across the Atlantic on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 0.81 per cent to close at 11,947.70 points as the blue-chip index smashed its record set Tuesday of 11,866.69.

The Dow rose as high as 11,959.63, an intraday all-time high.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq meanwhile soared 1.64 per cent to end at 2,346.18 points and the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index increased 0.95 per cent to close at 1,362.83.

In Asia on Friday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index finished 1.02-per cent higher at 16,536.54 points, the best finish since May 12.

As well as the Wall Street factor, Japanese gained as investors bet on strong domestic corporate earnings and set aside jitters over North Korea's announcement of its first nuclear test on Monday.

Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index closed 0.65-per cent higher at 17,988.86 points. It had earlier topped 18,000 points.—AFP