The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 1.6 percent this week to close at 1,537.65 as earnings reports continued to be issued and mergers news was in focus.

The energy sector reacted to Gas Natural’s withdrawal from the bidding for Endsea, leaving Eon with the only offer on the table for the Spanish energy company. Gas Natural dropped 0.9 percent on the week to €30.85 while Eon, which was due to deliver its sealed bid to the Spanish stock market regulator on Friday, added 10.9 percent to €109.43. Endsea was 0.9 percent higher to €39.04 and Acciona, the Spanish builder which owns a 21 percent stake in Endsea gained 1 percent to €155.

The steel sector was also affected by bids news. Corus added 7.9 percent to €9.13 as it was revealed that Tata Steel had won the bidding for the Anglo-Dutch steel maker. Hopes that there would be further consolidation in the sector sent ThyssenKrupp and Arcelor Mittal 3.8 percent higher each, to €36.54 and €36.43 respectively.

Truck manufacturers were higher during the week as well. Volvo added 3.2 percent to SKr513 even after it failed to meet projections for the fourth quarter when it upped its outlook and announced an extraordinary pay-out. Scania was 9 percent higher to SKr510.

Airlines were mostly up this week, the exception being Alitalia, which dropped 0.2 percent to €1.07 in a week when it received from two private equity groups but Air France-KLM said it was not interested in making a bid. Lufthansa added 3.5 percent to €21.90 on an upgrade from UBS, while Iberia gained 6.3 percent to €3.19. Air France, which also received a UBS upgrade, was 10.6 percent higher to €35.59.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up on Monday on gains in the steel sector as it seemed that there could be a bidding war for Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus that could translate into wider consolidation in the sector. The Eurofirst was up 0.6 percent to 1,457.09.

The steel sector was not the only one that gained on bids and rumors of bids, however. Among stock exchanges, Deutsche Borse was 3.1 percent higher to €137.10 on a meager hope that Euronext’s tie-up with NYSE Group might not be as firmly settled as had been thought, making room for a bid from the German exchange operator. Euronext added 2.9 percent on the session ahead of a December 19 vote by shareholders on the merger with NYSE.

Bids rumors also helped Continental after General Capital Group would not rule out another bid after a failed attempt to buy the German tire maker earlier in the year. Continental was up 2.6 percent to €89. 69.

With prospects shaping up for a bidding war between CSN of Brazil and Tata of India, Corus added 5.4 percent to €7.80 as analysts said that while the Tata bid is more favorable from an employee point of view, Corus is obligated to act in the interests of its shareholders, who would benefit more from acceptance of the CSN bid. CSN is currently offering 515p per share, while Tata’s bid stands at 500p per share, raised on Sunday from a previous 455p bid. In Mumbai, Tata dropped 6 percent on the increased bid.

Elsewhere in the sector, ThyssenKrupp gained 1.5 percent to €32.13 after its target share price was revised upward by Goldman Sachs. Salzgitter was 1.6 percent higher to €97.22, Mittal Steel added 2.5 percent to €32.80, and Acerinox of Spain was up 2.7 percent to €21.77.

Mergers and acquisitions news continued to drive the European equities markets on Thursday as the FTSE Eurofirst 300 saw its highest closing level since mid-2001 and indices in Spain and Switzerland hit all-time highs. The Eurofirst added 0.6 percent to 1,410.11.

MAN was down again, dropping 3.6 percent to €66 as the fallout of Volkswagen’s purchase of 15 percent of the German truckmaker’s shares Wednesday continued. Analyst opinion is that VW made the purchase to protect its own truck unit and its investment in Scania, in which it is the largest shareholder. MAN made a bid for Scania last month. Scania’s B shares added 0.8 percent on the session to SKr465.50, while VW gained 1.2 percent to €69.65.

Low-cost air carrier Ryanair dropped 0.8 percent to €8.63 after it said it has purchased 16 percent of Aer Lingus and intends to bid for the remaining shares in the Irish airline. With Aer Lingus saying that they reject the bid and analysts saying that there is not much chance of the bid effort succeeding Aer Lingus, which only began trading publicly on Monday, added 15.5 percent to €2.90.

The steel sector saw advances on the day after Tata Steel of India said it was considering a bid for Corus. This follows Mittal Steel’s acquisition of Arcelor earlier in the year. Corus added 15.8 percent to €7.03 on the talk, and other steel makers gained on the possibility of further consolidation within the sector. Arcelor Mittal gained 3 percent to €27.70, while Salzgitter advanced 3.2 percent to €77.82 and ThyssenKrupp was 3.6 percent higher to €27.18.

In Europe on Wednesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1 percent to 1,306.63. Despite the gain, the index was down 5.2 percent for the month, the largest monthly decline in over two years. The day’s advance came on gains in the telecommunications and steel sectors.

Banks were mixed on the day. Capitalia and Banca Intesa were both up on renewed rumors of a merger between the two Italian banks. Capitalia added 3.6 percent to €6.4650 and Intesa gained 2.2 percent to €4.5180. National Bank of Greece was also up, adding 6.4 percent to €32.24 on a positive first-quarter earnings report. Belgian bank Dexia, however, was down 1.8 percent to €19.16 when it said that it will purchase 75 percent of Denizbank in Turkey now, and will offer for the remaining 25 percent of the bank when it gets the approval of regulators.

The telecommunications sector was up after having performed badly since the beginning of the year. Telekom Austria added 0.1 percent to €17.41 after Deutsche Bank raised its rating from “hold” to “buy”. OTE (Hellenic Telecom) was up 1.8 percent to €17.30 after a positive earnings report and on positive comments from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which reiterated its “buy” recommendation. Telefonica was up 2.4 percent to €12.77. Telenor gained 2.7 percent to NKr76.75 on the announcement that it has won a contract to provide automatic meter reading for a Nordic energy company.

Elsewhere in the sector, KPN was up 2.6 percent to €8.95, while Telecom Italia added 3.2 percent to €1.9910 and France Telecom gained 4.2 percent to €17.46.

In the steel sector, Corus added 2.2 percent to €5.70. While it reported that earnings in the first quarter were down from the same period last year, they were still better than had been expected. Arcelor, meanwhile, was up 1.4 percent to €33.30 even though shareholders are still in upheaval over its plans to merge with Russian company Severstal.

With markets in the UK and the US closed for holidays, European equities markets declined on very low volumes of trade on Monday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 0.1 percent to 1,322.45.

The decline came even though the steel sector was mostly higher amid rumors of mergers and acquisitions after Arcelor said on Friday that it will merge with Severstal of Russia. Despite investor unhappiness with the move by Arcelor, the Luxembourg-based company added 3.9 percent on the day to €32.80 as Mittal Steel said it would proceed with its attempt to take over Arcelor. Mittal was up 5 percent on the day to €26.25. Only Severstal saw a decline, with its shares down 0.7 percent to Rbs376.90.

Elsewhere in the sector, the possibility of further mergers sent shares in Corus up 2.8 percent to €5.80 and Salzgitter gained 6.3 percent to €68.62.

The oil sector also saw gains on last week’s increase in the price of crude oil. Cespa was up 1.8 percent to €52.10 and Statoil added 2.8 percent to NKr185. Norsk Hydro, with interests in both oil and metals, gained 2.3 percent to NKr176 after it bought back 561,000 shares at NKr170.66 each.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche was up 0.9 percent to SFr190.70 after it released data showing that its drug Herceptin, in conjunction with hormone therapy, will stop progression of breast cancer and give longer life to some patients with the disease.

In Europe on Tuesday the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down on profit-taking despite gains in the oil and steel sectors, losing 0.3 percent to 1,218.44.

Also having an effect on European stocks was a comment by an official of the US Federal Reserve that hinted at the possibility of rising interest rates on a global scale on concerns about inflation.

Sectors that depend on high consumer confidence were down on the day. Italian jeweller Bulgari lost 4.2 percent to €9.32 on an unexpected drop in first-half profits, which the company blamed on currency losses, taxes, and higher advertising costs.

Also in the luxury goods sector, Christian Dior declined by 0.4 percent to €68.05 and LVMH dropped 0.6 percent to €68.20.

The banking sector saw gains, however. Capitalia, the Italian bank, gained 4.3 percent to €4.54 on a “buy” rating from Citigroup, and Swedish bank Handelsbanken was up 3 percent to SKr173.50 on the announcement that it had appointed a new chief executive and that its former chief was moving to the office of chairman.

In the steel sector, Arcelor, the world’s second-largest steel company, gained 0.8 percent to €18.85.

Elsewhere in the sector, Saltzgitter of Germany was up 3.4 percent to €41.45 and Corus rose 1.4 percent on the day.