LONDON, Dec 15: European stock markets dipped on Thursday against the background of a formal bid by Macquarie Bank of Australia for the London Stock Exchange.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares gave up 0.29 per cent to 5,505.10 points at the half-way stage, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid 0.06 per cent to 5,283.41 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.24 per cent to 4,663.63.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares nudged 0.05 per cent lower to 3,517.14 points.

The euro stood at 1.2021 dollars.

Investors focused on news that Macquarie Bank had made a hostile cash offer of 580 pence per share for the LSE, valuing the biggest equity market in Europe at 1.5 billion pounds (2.2 billion euros, 2.7 billion dollars).

The share price of LSE fell 0.96 per cent to 616 pence, while the FTSE 250 index on which it is listed gained 0.24 per cent to 8,513.50 points.

Deutsche Boerse, which had an offer for the LSE rejected but said it may bid again, fell 0.31 per cent to 87 euros in Frankfurt.

Euronext, which operates the Dutch, Belgian, French and Portuguese stock exchanges, and which has revealed also an interest in its British rival, rose 1.35 per cent to 41.3 euros in Paris.

Oil majors were weak, reflecting the recent dip in crude prices.

Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell saw its ‘A’ shares sink 1.0 per cent to 1,776 pence, while British energy giant BG Group shed 0.27 per cent to 550.5 pence.

French oil group Total slipped 0.64 per cent to 217 euros in Paris.

US stocks had rallied on Wednesday, minus the tech sector, lifting the main broad-market index to a four-and-a-half-year high as Wall Street looked ahead to an end to the current cycle of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.55 per cent to 10,883.51 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.11 per cent to 2,262.59 points.

The broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 index gained 0.42 per cent to 1,272.74, the best closing since June 2001.

The technology sector was weakened by broker downgrades of Apple Computer.

Asian stocks closed mixed on Thursday with gains stemming from another positive performance on Wall Street, limited by fears of inflation and a second straight fall in Tokyo.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index finished 1.36 per cent down at 15,254.44 points, as a rebounding yen knocked down exporter shares and investors continued to take profits, dealers said.—AFP