August 01, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 16, 1428

LONDON, July 31: Europe's main stock markets rebounded on Tuesday as bargain hunters snapped up cheap shares, following recent sharp losses, amid fresh takeover and company earnings news, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading blue-chip shares jumped 1.65 per cent to 6,308.30 points nearing the half-way stage.

In Frankfurt the DAX 30 leapt 1.58 per cent to 7,573.94 and the Paris CAC 40 added 1.39 per cent to 5,724.64 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares won 1.48 per cent to 4,302.00 points.

The euro stood at 1.3705 dollars.

Wall Street shares had powered higher to finish with solid gains Monday as investors shrugged off jitters about a widening economic crisis, sparked by US housing market woes, that led to last week's bruising for global equities.

British bank Lloyds TSB saw its shares surge 3.84 per cent to 555 pence after the group revealed soaring first-half profits and hiked its interim shareholder dividend for the first time since 2002.

Lloyds also said it would sell insurance arm Abbey Life to Germany's Deutsche Bank for 977 million pounds (1.445 billion euros, 1.981 billion dollars).

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank shares rallied 3.14 per cent to 100.05 euros on the news.

Back in London, GlaxoSmithKline shares gained 3.37 per cent to 1,256 pence after US regulatory authorities voted for the pharmaceutical company's diabetes drug Avandia to remain available to patients in the United States.

This comes despite independent research that claims the drug significantly increase the risk of heart attack and cardiovascular problems. GSK disputes the claim made by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Meanwhile on Tuesday in Paris, Renault shares revved 4.82 per cent higher at 107.23 euros on the back of several positive broker notes.

Goldman Sachs reiterated its 150-euros price target, adding that the recent weakness presented a buying opportunity.

In US deals on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.70 per cent to close at 13,358.31 points, recouping a portion of last week's losses.

The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.82 per cent to 2,583.28 points and the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index climbed 1.03 per cent to 1,473.91.The US gains came after the worst week in more than four years on Wall Street as fears about the housing market slump and tightening credit sent investors diving for cover.

With no major economic news on tap, investors reconsidered some of the worries about a so-called credit crunch in response to the wave of failures in the housing sector.—AFP