FTSE hits 6,000 points, spurred by earnings and takeovers
European stock markets raced ahead in early trading, with London's FTSE 100 breaching 6,000 points for the first time for five years on strong company results and takeover news, dealers said.
Insurers led the FTSE 100 index of leading shares after Legal and General delivered a better-than-expected 43-percent rise in annual profit.
On the second-tier FTSE 250, Body Shop surged more than 10.0 percent after agreeing to be bought by French cosmetics giant L'Oreal.
Back on the FTSE 100 Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone company, saw it share price rise after agreeing to sell its struggling Japanese unit to the country's Internet and telecoms group Softbank Corp for 8.9 billion pounds (15.6 billion dollars).
Vodafone said it would use the money to return 6.0 billion pounds in cash to shareholders.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares jumped 0.73 percent to 6,036.80 points, the first breach above 6,000 points since March 9, 2001.
"Even with all the worries in the world economy -- from war in Iraq to potential plague from avian flu -- the FTSE 100 has been experiencing a rally to match the height of the stock market boom in the late 1990s," said Clem Chambers, chief executive of trading website ADVFN.
In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 gained 0.66 percent to 5,936.57 points and in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.70 percent to 5,162.08 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.71 percent to 3,866.92 points.
The euro stood at 1.2185 dollars.
Two of the three main Wall Street indexes closed at multi-year highs on Thursday despite a spike in oil prices that took some of the shine off a tame inflation report.
Japanese share prices closed strongly higher on Friday as worries about an early rise in interest rates abated and after the Dow Jones hit fresh multi-year peaks, dealers said.
In London, Legal and General surged 7.46 percent to 144 pence after Britain's third-biggest listed life insurer said 2005 operating profit came in at 1.092 billion pounds.
The news boosted peers, with Prudential rising 4.46 percent to 655.5 pence and Royal Sun Alliance up 3.98 percent at 143.75 pence.
Elsewhere Vodafone won 1.35 percent to 131.75 pence as investors cheered its decision to sell its Japanese unit, Vodafone KK and return money to shareholders.
On the FTSE 250, Body Shop rocketed 10.3 percent to 295.5 pence on news of its sale to L'Oreal at 300 pence per share. L'Oreal won 0.67 percent to 75.1 euros in Paris.
In New York on Thursday the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.39 percent to 11,253.24 points, the best close since May 2001.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index reached also the best level in nearly five years, gaining 0.18 percent to 1,305.33 points.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, failed to hold early gains and fell 0.53 percent to 2,299.56, amid weakness in semiconductor stocks.
In Asia on Friday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index rallied 1.51 percent to close at 16,339.73 points.
Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index finished up 0.46 percent at 15,801.66 points as investors welcomed stronger-than-expected 2005 results from China Mobile and tame US inflation data.
AFP
