New mergers and acquisitions rumors helped send the FTSE Eurofirst 300 higher on Thursday. The index added 0.5 percent to 1,447.86.

In the insurance sector, Swiss Life was 2.1 percent higher to SFr306 after it was rumored that Generali of Italy and Allianz of Germany might be ready to enter a bidding war over the Swiss insurer. Allianz was 0.7 percent higher to €149.61, while Generali, also a possible takeover target, gained 4 percent to €34.55.

French-Spanish tobacco group Altadis was up 7 percent to €40.37 after the confirmation of a bid for the UK company Gallaher raised hopes of more consolidation in the sector. JP Morgan commented that Altadis was a much more attractive target than Gallaher.

In the steel sector, ThyssenKrupp added 3.7 percent to €31.86 on positive broker comments. Deutsche Bank raised the steel maker’s target share price from €35 to €36, while West LB upped its target price from €32 to €34 and Commerzbank raised its earnings estimate for the 2006-2007 fiscal year by 16 percent.

Among telecommunications companies, Alcatel-Lucent gained 2.6 percent to €10.30 upon being added to Goldman Sachs’ “conviction buy” list. On the other hand, Dresdner Kleinwort retained its “sell” rating and target share price of €8, noting that Alcatel-Lucent isn’t a major manufacturer of mobile devices, unlike its rivals, Nokia and Ericsson.

In Europe on Tuesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.5 percent to 1,364.9 on worries that both US and eurozone interest rates could be going up again soon. The likelihood that eurozone rates could go up again was increased by new data on German business confidence that was up more than had been expected.

The telecommunications sector was instrumental in the declines after the European Commission said it will cut international roaming charges on calls made from mobile phones. The plan could cut charges to consumers by as much as 60 percent. UK mobile company Vodafone was down 4 percent to 119½p. Spanish company Telifonica Moviles lost 0.8 percent to €10.74. TeliaSonera, listed in Stockholm, dropped 1.3 percent to SKr46.40.

There were also losses among fixed-line telecommunications companies. Hellenic Telecom dropped 3 percent to €17.80, Telekom Austria was down 2.5 percent to €19.42, and France Telecom declined by 1.5 percent to €18.71.

Among insurers, Alleanza of Italy was down 4.9 percent to €9.95 even though it said net profits would be up by 30 percent by 2008. Swiss Life dropped 4 percent to SFr266 as investors worried that most of its 44 percent profits in 2005 had been due to one-time income.

In the biotechnology sector, Swiss company Serono added 2 percent to SFr933 on rumors that a bid for the company would be forthcoming soon.