LONDON, May 21: Europe's main stock markets crept higher on Monday, in a cautious start to the week after Friday's record run in London and New York. In late morning trade, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 0.24 per cent to 6,657.00 points.

The FTSE 100 had finished at 6,640.90 points last Friday, the highest close since September 8, 2000 -- amid Wall Street's recent strong showing, positive company results and fervent takeover activity and speculation.

On Monday, approaching the half-way stage, Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.21 per cent to 7,623.42 points and in Paris the CAC 40 edged up 0.02 per cent to 6,101.54.

The euro stood at 1.3480 dollars.

The frenzy over corporate dealmaking pushed Wall Street higher Friday as blue chips vaulted to another record and the broad market edged closer to its all-time high.

London's FTSE 100 was supported by gains to heavyweight mining shares.

Anglo American topped the leaderboard with a rise of 2.33 percent to 2,942 pence on positive broker comment from US financial giant Merrill Lynch.

Lloyds TSB, Britain's fifth biggest bank, eased 0.26 per cent to 582.5 pence on profit-taking.

Dealers cashed in after the bank agreed to sell its shares-registration arm to US buyout firm Advent International for 550 million pounds (803.5 million euros or 1.09 billion dollars.)

In Frankfurt meanwhile, Bayer surged 4.22 per cent to 53.36 euros after Swiss broker UBS raised the target price for the German pharmaceuticals giant to 66 euros from 63.

Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.59 per cent to close at 13,556.53 points on Friday, as the Wall Street benchmark blue-chip index notched a 24th record closing high this year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 0.75 per cent to 2,558.45 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.64 per cent to 1,522.75, nudging closer to its all-time high of 1,527.46 points set in March 2000.—AFP