LONDON, Dec 11: Europe's stock markets gained solidly on Monday, buoyed in part by takeover activity amid a renewed bidding war for Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus, dealers said.

A fresh battle for Corus erupted when Brazilian group CSN on Monday offered about 5.8 billion pounds (8.6 billion euros, 11.3 billion dollars) shortly after Corus had accepted a lower bid from Tata Steel of India.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 0.46 per cent to 6,180.90 points, in Frankfurt the DAX 30 rose 0.64 per cent to reach 6,468.28 points and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.75 per cent to 5,424.43.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares rose by 0.80 percent to 4,052.01 points. The euro stood at 1.3190 dollars.

Japanese share prices closed at a six-week high point on Monday, lifted by gains on Wall Street on Friday and a further easing of the yen which was seen as positive for exporter earnings, dealers said.

US stocks had closed higher after a government report showed employers had added a better-than-expected 132,000 nonfarm positions to their payrolls last month.

In London on Monday, Corus jumped to the top of the FTSE 100, surging 4.90 percent to 524.5 pence in morning deals.

CSN's offer for Corus came less than a day after Corus said it had accepted a revised takeover bid from Tata Steel worth about 5.6 billion pounds, including debt.

CSN and Tata, steelmakers from two of the world's emerging economic superpowers -- Brazil and India -- are battling for Corus as they seek to gain ground on world number-one steelmaker Arcelor Mittal.

In Paris trade, Arcelor Mittal won 2.31 per cent to 32.74 euros, while German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp climbed 0.69 per cent to 31.88 euros in Frankfurt.

ThyssenKrupp is enjoying record profits owing to booming global demand for steel.

Earlier in Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 closed up 0.67 per cent at 16,527.99 points, the highest since October 27 and easily regaining Friday's 0.34 per cent loss.—AFP