European markets pushed higher in quiet trading. Although the closure of New York and London for public holidays kept activity in check, the buyers held the balance of sentiment with relative ease.
Friday's late rally for the Nasdaq provided good support for technology stocks which were also boosted by confident speculation that France Telecom would this morning roll out an offer for Orange, the UK's third-biggest mobile operator.
Paris rose 75.98 to 6,205.13 on the CAC 40 index, with solid performances by a wide range of tech-related shares providing most of the motive power.
Equant jumped €2.40 or 5.5 per cent to €46.25, Canal Plus €5.30 to €188.30 and TF1 €29 to €689. In telecoms, Bouygues rose €27 to €625 while France Telecom ended €2.60 better at €144.40.
Banks also met with demand. Societe Generale gained €2.10 to €61.85 and BNP put on €2.05 at €95.45.
Frankfurt finished 78.33 better at 7,016.66 on the Xetra DAX index after a solid showing by market heavyweights.
Deutsche Bank added 96 cents at €78.20 and Munich Re €3.85 at €302.60. Siemens put on €5.80 at €156 and Thyssen Krupp, which touched a seven-month low last week, rose €1 at €19.30.
Amsterdam experienced a revival for media shares. VNU added 1.50 at 55.30 and Elsevier 40 cents or 4 per cent at €10.30.
Philips gained €1.97 at €46.98 and KPN rose €2.90 to €93.50.
Talk of imminent banking deals kept financials active. ABN Amro improved 28 cents to €23.48 and ING €1.30 to €64.60. The AEX index closed 9.84 higher at 655.75.
Milan was lifted by gains in telecoms stocks as the market absorbed details of the weekend's developments at Telecom Italia.
Telecom Italia was 4.6 per cent higher at €14.79 as the market signalled relief that the company would have to spend only €2.4 billion for its cash bid for Seat, instead of a potential €16 billion. Seat gained 6.1 per cent to €3.90.
Telecom's parent companies were also higher. Olivetti climbed 6 per cent to €3.63 after it said it would offer to buy out the 27.2 per cent of Tecnost it does not already own. Tecnost climbed 5.3 per cent to €3.92. The Mibtel index finished 329 higher at 31,032.
Madrid was higher, helped by gains in Telefonica and power company Hidrocantabrico, but activity was muted by the holidays in the UK and US. The general index finished 10.13 higher at 972.08.
Telefonica gained 4.6 per cent to €21.65 as bargain hunters bought the stock after its recent falls.
Hidroelectrica del Cantabrico rose 6.3 per cent to €21.53 amid speculation that US utility TXU or another foreign bidder could launch an offer following the government's decision to block a bid by competitor Union Fenosa. Shares in Fenosa put on 2.3 per cent to €21.58.
