Europe stayed firm, with a number of individual markets finishing at record highs. The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index rose 0.6 per cent to 1,383.09, while the FTSE Eurotop 100 index gained 0.5 per cent to 3,610.67. The broader FTSE Eurotop 300 index ended at 1,565.14, up 0.5 per cent.
Old favourites continued to drive the buying. The telecoms, IT and media sectors took the first three places in the day's performance charts.
Frankfurt drove to fresh records with a 2.8 per cent jump at Deutsche Telekom, the market heavyweight, lifting the Xetra Dax index 85.68 to 7,258.90.
Sector optimism, amid talk of a fresh outbreak of deals should Vodafone AirTouch's bid for Mannesmann prove successful, helped to lift Deutsche Telekom. The stock ended €1.96 better at €73.26 after touching a high of 75.70. A surge in London for Vodafone helped lift Mannesmann €15.70 at €272.90. Siemens gained €3.01 at €138.71.
Paris closed on an upbeat note with the CAC-40 index adding 55.34 at 5,842.78 after another session of active trading.
Lagardere continued to benefit from its purchase of a stake in Canal Plus's satellite offshoot. It gained €5.90 or 8.3 per cent to end at €76.90. France Telecom put on 3.8 per cent to €126.50 as Warburg Dillon Read upgraded it to "strong buy".
Madrid gained ground, adding 0.9 per cent on the Ibex-35 which finished at 11,285.6, thanks mostly to gains by technology and communications-related stocks.
Amsterdam gained ground for the third day running, adding 5.91 at 661.51 on the AEX index with powerful runs by Philips and Akzo Nobel driving the session.
Electronics company Philips, up €7.50 at €159.60, took its cue from recent gains for US tech stocks while chemicals leader Akzo joined the general excitement in the drugs sector with a rise of €2.92 at €50.85.
Helsinki turned higher as Nokia and Sonera put morning weakness behind them and the Hex general index finished 224.43 or 1.5 per cent ahead at 14,826.94.
Nokia gained 1.5 per cent to €182.20 while Sonera gained 2.3 per cent to €70.25, with both adding to their sharp gains last week.
