LONDON, Oct 20: European stock markets advanced on Friday following earlier Asian gains, and in the wake of yet another record performance on Wall Street, dealers said.
In New York on Thursday, the leading Dow Jones Industrial Average index had closed at a record high just above 12,000 points as investors cheered the latest batch of US earnings.
In Europe on Friday, London's FTSE 100 index of top shares added 0.35 per cent to 6,177.80 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index gained 0.48 per cent to 6,206.92 and in Paris the CAC 40 index rose 0.62 per cent to 5,392.94 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares won 0.57 per cent to 4,009.43 points.
The US Dow blue-chip index had Thursday finished up 0.16 per cent at 12,011.73 points, after hitting an all-time intra-day record of 12,049.51 on Wednesday.
This week saw global stocks race ahead as investors also gained confidence in the resilience of the United States, which is the world's largest economy, to withstand its current downturn.
Japanese shares took their lead from Wall Street on Friday, ending the week in positive territory also on hopes of upbeat local earnings, dealers said.
In Europe, the energy sector was lifted by crude futures, which strengthened after OPEC slashed output by more than expected as the cartel sought to reverse recent heavy price falls.
In London, Anglo-Dutch major Royal Dutch Shell saw its 'A' shares gain 0.45 per cent to 1,779 pence, while French peer Total chalked up a gain of 0.75 per cent at 53.6 euros in Paris trading.
Investors focused also on news that India's Tata Steel has made a recommended takeover bid for Britain's Corus Group, valuing its Anglo-Dutch peer at 4.3 billion pounds.
The 455-pence-per-share offer, equivalent to 6.39 billion euros or 8.07 billion dollars, would represent the biggest foreign takeover in history by a company from emerging economic powerhouse India -- and would create the world's fifth-largest steelmaker in terms of output.
In London, however, Corus shares dived 1.62 per cent to 470.75 pence -- which was still significantly higher than the bid price -- suggesting that a rival approach could be around the corner, analysts said.
Speculation has swirled around Corus following this year's blockbuster takeover of European peer Arcelor by Rotterdam-based Mittal Steel, led by Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, which created the world's largest steelmaker in a 32.4-billion-dollar deal.In Paris, Mittal Steel shares gained 0.28 per cent to 31.84 euros.
In Wall Street trading on Thursday, the Nasdaq composite meanwhile closed up 0.16 per cent at 2,340.94 while the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index ended 0.07 per cent higher at 1,366.96 points.
A flurry of positive results from the likes of Citigroup, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and McDonald's helped boost trading sentiment Thursday.—AFP