LONDON, July 16: Europe's main stock markets mainly rose on Monday as investors seized on the latest developments in the multi-billion-euro takeover battle for control of Dutch lender ABN Amro, dealers said.

They also kept an eye on surging oil prices, as the price of London's Brent North Sea crude surged close to a record high above $78 per barrel.

The British capital's FTSE 100 index of leading shares eased 0.05 per cent to 6,713.60 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.03 percent to 6,119.60 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.19 per cent to 8,108.00.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares advanced 0.23 per cent to 4,553.10 points.

The euro stood at 1.3796, not far off its record high above 1.38 dollars.

Before the weekend, Wall Street lifted to a second straight day of record highs Friday, riding momentum from a powerful rally a day earlier as investors shrugged off a weak US retail spending report and a spike in oil prices.

In Europe on Monday, the banking sector was in focus.

Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland said it had increased the cash part of its 71.1-billion-euro consortium bid for ABN Amro in an attempt to beat a rival offer from Barclays.

RBS, Banco Santander of Spain and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis are hoping to persuade ABN Amro to ditch a bid by Britain's Barclays that is worth 67 billion euros.

Barclays' share price jumped 1.45 per cent to 735 pence in late morning deals, while RBS stock rose 0.16 per cent to 641 pence.

In Amsterdam, however, ABN Amro shares soared 3.79 per cent to 37.21 euros.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 0.02 per cent to 2,707.00.—AFP