The FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.7 percent on Monday to close at 1,269.21, helped by an announced merger in the telecommunications sector.
Nokia of Finland said it would merge its network equipment unit with that of Siemens. The announcement sent shares in Nokia up by 3.2 percent to €16.15, while Siemens added 7.2 percent to €67.36. The merger was expected to save €1.5 billion per year by 2010. While Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein made negative comments about the deal, including that the deal would take a long time to close, HSBC upgraded Siemens from “neutral” to “overweight” and increased the German telecom’s target share price from €76 to €81.
Also in telecoms, TeliaSonera dropped 1.8 percent to SKr39 on a downgrade from “hold” to “sell” from Citigroup.
In semiconductors, Infineon was 0.7 percent higher at €8.57, while STMicroelectronics gained 1.9 percent to €12.49 on a buy recommendation from Morgan Stanley.
Ferrovial added 4.2 percent to €55.45 on an upgrade from “hold” to “buy” from Societe Generale, based on the assumption that the Spanish construction group will complete its takeover of airport operator BAA.
In the insurance sector, Allianz was up 3.5 percent to €118.48, while RAS gained 2.9 percent to €18.57 and Axa advanced by 1.3 percent to €24.30.