July 19, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 03, 1428

LONDON, July 18: European stock markets tumbled Wednesday on fears of a sell-off on Wall Street, but losses were capped by takeover activity in the tobacco and retail sectors, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 0.79 per centto 6,606.60 points in early afternoon trading.

In Frankfurt the DAX 30 slid 1.42 per cent to 7,924.13 points, the Paris CAC 40 lost 1.04 per cent to 6,035.67 points and the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares declined 0.91 per cent to 4,496.95.

The euro stood at 1.3784 dollars after earlier striking a record high 1.3837.

Wall Street's blue-chip Dow Jones index vaulted Tuesday above 14,000 points for the first time as investors remained upbeat on the economy and corporate earnings, but failed to hold that level at the close.

In London on Wednesday, the FTSE's biggest faller was sugar producer Tate & Lyle, which slid 2.92 per centto 582.5 pence after the company warned that its first quarter-profit would be lower than a year earlier.

On the upside, Imperial Tobacco jumped 1.23 per cent to 2,228 pence after it said it would strengthen its position as the world's fourth largest tobacco group after Franco-Spanish rival Altadis accepted a cash takeover worth 16.2 billion euros.

A tie-up between the world's fourth and fifth biggest tobacco groups, which is the equivalent of 22.4 billion dollars, would marry Imperial Tobacco brands Regal, Embassy and Davidoff with Altadis' Gauloises and Fortuna.

Altadis gained 1.10 per centto 48.63 euros on Madrid's IBEX 35 index, which was falling overall.

Back in London, Britain's third supermarket J Sainsbury won 1.37 per cent to 593.5 pence after announcing that it had received a takeover approach from a Qatari investment group.

According to the Financial Times, Delta Two has offered 610 pence per share, or about 12 billion pounds (17.8 billion euros, 24.6 billion dollars) for the group.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.15 per cent at 13,971.55 points Tuesday, setting a fourth-straight record close despite paring its early gains.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.55 per cent to 2,712.29 points and the broad-market Standard Poor's 500 index, which also flirted with record highs, dipped 0.01 per cent lower at 1,549.37.—AFP