LONDON, Oct 8: Europe’s main stock markets eased overall on Monday despite strong gains for some individual share prices, notably Northern Rock, which jumped on talk that the troubled British bank may soon be bought.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares per cent dipped 0.20 to 6,582.70 points in late morning deals.

The UK market is stuck in a dull place at the moment, said Philip Isherwood, strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort.

The markets have been good over the past few weeks. Now since the US non-farm pay rolls came out on Friday, investors are sitting back and doing nothing, waiting to see whether or not the Fed is going to cut interest rates. Elsewhere, nearing the half-way mark, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 fell 0.11 per cent

to 7,993.12 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 index slid 0.16 per cent to 5,833.77. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares declined by 0.23 per cent to 4,445.67 points.

The euro stood at 1.4086 dollars, after hitting a record high $1.4283 last week.

In London share trading on Monday, Northern Rock surged 9.72 per cent to 173.9 pence.

Northern Rock’s share price had plunged as much as 80 per cent after the lender was bailed out by the Bank of England in September.

US investment funds Apollo Management and Blackstone have meanwhile shown interest in buying Northern Rock, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The firms showed interest separately last week, the paper said, citing people close to the matter, although spokesmen for the companies declined to comment.

It said the takeover approaches could prompt an auction for the ailing British lender, where customers last month rushed to withdraw their savings in a crisis sparked by the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market.

Two other US firms have reportedly been in detailed talks with the troubled bank: J.C. Flowers Company and Cerberus, the Journal said. Another, Merril Lynch, has been advising Northern Rock on its strategy.

British media on Sunday reported that US financial giant Citigroup Incorporated was set to lend Northern Rock up to 10 billion pounds (20.4 billion dollars, 14.4 billion euros) to help potential buyers finance the purchase.—AFP