Euroshares open up, M&A drives miners, caution ahead of US FOMC rate decision

Euroshares open up, M&A drives miners, caution ahead of US FOMC rate decision

	Published : Wed, 09 May 2007 08:39 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Euroshares opened firmer this morning helped by continuing M&A activity across several sectors with a mixed bag of results, although caution ahead of tonight's FOMC rate decision is seen capping gains, dealers said.

At 8.15 am, the STOXX 50 was up 24.9 at 3905.36, while the broader STOXX 600 was up 2.23 at 392.02.

In Europe this morning, Rio Tinto rose to the top of the FTSE 100 after rumours surrounding a possible take over approach from its larger peer BHP Billiton pushed the miner's shares 7 pct higher in Australia overnight.

Rio took on 245 pence to 3550 despite the lack of a concrete bid with sector peers benefiting from the read across.

Elsewhere, earnings news dominated most of the risers across the continent, with BNP-Paribas 2.7 pct higher after reporting first-quarter net profit rose 24.5 pct to 2.507 bln eur from 2.013 bln a year earlier, well ahead of forecasts and driven primarily by strong growth in revenues as well as by significant capital gains.

Elsewhere, insurer Assicurazioni Generali rose 1.5 pct at 34.55 after posting a 19.6 pct gain in first quarter net profit to 715.4 mln eur after the bell last night and beating consensus forecasts.

Last night on Wall Street, US stocks battled back from sharp losses Tuesday to close mostly flat as investors sought buying opportunities and adjusted their holdings ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates.

By the close, the DJIA was off 3.90, or 0.03 pct, to 13,309.07, while the Nasdaq finished up 0.80 to 2,571.75 and the S&P 500 finished down 1.76 at 1,507.72.

Over in Asia, the Nikkei 225 index was little changed, up 1.35 points at 17,658.19, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng ended its morning session up 28.07 points at 20,734.42.

tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com

nma/slj

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.