Reply #29: European stocks end up on insurers, DAX hits record [View All]

[Ghost Dog]

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=eurMktRpt&storyID=2007-06-20T165308Z_01_L20920471_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-EUROPE-STOCKS-UPDATE-3.XML

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - European shares closed higher on Wednesday as merger and acquisition talk surrounding insurers and banks helped markets pare losses struck in the past two sessions, while Germany's key DAX index hit a record close.

Allianz (ALVG.DE: Quote, Profile , Research) rose for the fifth day in a row, with the day's 2 percent gains stoked by a report in a German stock market newsletter that Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile , Research) was in talks to buy the retail operations of the insurer's Dresdner Bank unit.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> closed 0.4 percent stronger at 1,620.2, paring a 0.7 percent fall seen in the past two days.

Germany's 30 share DAX <.GDAXI> jumped 0.7 percent to a record close of 8,090.5, spurred by gains in Allianz and Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile , Research).

"Cyclicals are still storming ahead because global growth prospects are very strong," said Mark Bon, a European fund manager at Canada Life. The DAX has surged about 23 percent in 2007.

"It has performed very well and it should continue to do well, but not at the same record breaking pace it has in the first half," said Bon.

The FTSEurofirst index is shy of a 6-1/2 year high of 1,630.7 hit on Monday, but up about 9 percent so far this year. Continued...

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