Down early in the day, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 managed to recover to close 0.9 percent higher to 1,355.41 on a slow day when some European markets were closed for the Assumption Day holiday.
Stocks in technology sectors benefited from comments issued by Morgan Stanley. Among software companies, SAP added 2.7 percent to €143.08. STMicroelectronics was 4.1 percent higher to €12.29, while in the telecommunications equipment sector Ericsson gained 4.2 percent to SKr22.60.
The pharmaceuticals sector was up on the day. Novartis was up by 1 percent to SFr69.95 even though its Sandoz generics division could be a target of a lawsuit by Sanofi-Aventis over unauthorized manufacture of generic copies of Plavix. The gain for Novartis came on a reconfirmation of Dresdner Kleinwort’s “buy” recommendation. Sanofi was also up, adding 2.5 percent to €70.30.
Among banks, UBS was 3.4 percent higher to SFr68.30 on a second quarter report that showed a 47 percent gain in net profits, well above what had been expected.
In the chemicals sector, Akzo Nobel added 4 percent to €44.35 on the news that it will ask shareholders to approve a spinoff of its pharmaceuticals unit and to make 30 percent of the new company available on Euronext in 2007.