The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.1 percent to 1,472.65 during the week as trade was light as the Christmas holiday approached.

Among the losers on the week was the Spanish construction sector. Sacyr-Vallehermoso, which dropped 7.4 percent to €46 after it said it has taken a bank loan of €5.175 billion to pay for its purchase of 20 percent of oil company Repsol. JP Morgan began coverage of the Spanish construction company with a rating of “underweight” and a target share price of €36. Meanwhile, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas dropped 7.6 percent to €76.10 when Banesto dropped its recommendation on FCC from “overweight” to “neutral”.

On the other hand, after seeing tough times due to delays in the construction of the Airbus A380, EADS added 5.7 percent during the week to €25.77 after it received new orders from Qantas and from Singapore Airlines.

In the oil sector, Norsk Hydro had a very good week, adding 20.3 percent to NKr188 after it announced that it will merge its oil and gas production business with Statoil. It will keep its aluminium operations separate. Statoil, however, dropped 5.2 percent to NKr164 despite positive reaction to the deal from most brokers when Citigroup downgraded its recommendation from “buy” to “hold”.

Swiss watch makers saw gains on exports that were up 13 percent in November compared to last year at the same time. Swatch was up 3 percent to SFr54.15, while Richemont added 4.1 percent to SFr70.50.

Mergers and acquisitions rumors once again helped European equities see gains on Monday as the FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.6 percent to 1,429.95.

The airlines sector was mixed on the session. On an announcement by the Italian government that it will reduce its stake in Alitalia to less than 30 percent, from the 49.9 percent that it now holds, the Italian air carrier added 2.4 percent to €0.96. Air France-KLM, which recently said that it is in preliminary talks with Alitalia concerning a possible merger, dropped 0.7 percent to €30.30. Analysts for Citigroup, however, felt that it would be more likely that domestic bidders would be interested rather than foreign carriers such as Air France or Lufthansa. Lufthansa was nonetheless 2.4 percent higher to €19.95 when Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its “overweight” rating and lifted the carrier’s target share price from €18.20 to €25.

In the utilities sector, Spanish power generators were up on rumors that the government could hike electricity tariffs by 10 percent in 2007. If this turns out to be the case, it would be largest increase in the tariffs in 20 years. Endsea was 0.4 percent higher to €35.15, while Iberdrola added 1.5 percent to €33.48 and Union Fenosa gained 2.7 percent to €39.94.

Also in Spain, property group Inmocaral purchased 15 percent of builder FCC from Acciona. FCC added 3.6 percent to €75.20 and Inmocaral was 5.7 percent higher to €5.38. Acciona, which did not say how it would use the €1.53 billion it will receive for the transaction, gained 0.4 percent to €131.50. Some analysts expect that Acciona will use the money to buy more of a stake in Endsea as part of an attempt to foil Germany’s Eon from acquiring Endsea. Eon was 1.5 percent higher on the session, to €95.90.

In Europe on Thursday the equities markets fell, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 declining by 0.2 percent to 1,355.46. Banking and retail were up on the day, but utilities were mixed and foods were down.

Among bankers DnB Nor, Norway’s largest bank, was up 0.9 percent to NKr81.50 after a strong performance in its brokerages led to a 28 percent leap in pre-tax profits in the fourth quarter.

German retailer Metro was up 4 percent to €43.90 on reports that German business confidence was at a 14-year high. Elsewhere in the retail sector, France’s Carrefour turned a comment by Deutsche Bank that its stock was undervalued into a gain of 3.1 percent to €40.86.

In the utilities sector, bid rumours continued but not to the huge benefit of companies in the sector as earlier in the week. Gas Natural was up 2.6 percent to €24.90 when Spanish construction company FCC said it would think about joining in a bid for Endsea. While Gas Natural gained on the talk, FCC dropped 0.4 percent to €57.10 and Endsea declined by 0.7 percent to €28.06. French utility Suez, gained 7 percent early in the day on rumors that it might be a takeover target by Enel, but by the end of the day Suez was only up 0.3 percent to €32. Elsewhere in the sector, EDF was up 1.5 percent to €42.47 on an announcement that its net profits had doubled, while RWE dropped 2.7 percent to €72.60 after issuing a statement saying that operating profits in 2006 would likely only grow by 5 to 10 percent.

Nestle was down by 3.3 percent to SFr386.50 despite a report of net profits in line with expectations and up 20.7 percent from 2004s figures. One analysts said that the profits report showed Nestle’s strength and that share prices do not reflect that strength, while Nestle’s chief executive put down reports that the company could be interested in bidding for Danone or Numico. Numico, meanwhile, dropped 1.7 percent to €37.13 as it announced disappointing results on fourth quarter sales, especially in baby food.