European equities markets seemed little bothered Monday by North Korea’s announcement that it had tested a nuclear device. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.2 percent to 1,414.38.

Part of the gains on the day came from advances in the oil and mining sectors as prices for crude oil and metals were up after the North Korean news. In the UK, the mining sector added 3.3 percent as a whole. Among European oil companies, Total advanced 1.2 percent to €51.90, while Neste Oil was 1.9 percent higher to €22.60 and OMV added 3.1 percent to €39.28.

The MAN/Scania story continued to unfold. MAN said that it was thinking about discontinuing its hostile bid for Scania in favor of talks between those two companies and Scania’s largest shareholder, Volkswagen, after VW bought 15 percent of MAN last week. MAN added 0.9 percent to €68.45 on its announcement. Meanwhile, VW dropped 0.4 percent to €69.31, Investor B shares fell 2.2 percent to SKr154.50 and Scania B shares fell 4.4 percent to SKr443. Scania B shares were suspended from trade for a time during the session.

Elsewhere in the automobile manufacturing sector, Renault dropped 0.2 percent to €89.95 after GM shareholder Kirk Kerkorian said he would not buy any more GM stock, signaling an end to the possibility that Renault, Nissan, and GM might form some sort of cooperative relationship. Kerkorian had been an advocate of such a deal. Peugeot, meanwhile, fell 0.6 percent to €42.92 on a downgrade and lowered target share price from Morgan Stanley. The broker reduced its reccomendation on the carmaker from “overweight” to equal-weight” and dropped its target from €53 to €41.

In the telecommunications sector, TeliaSonera added 2.3 percent to SKr49.20 on the news that investment fund Cevian Capital had bought 72 million shares in the telecom, an acquisition that gives the fund a 1.6 percent stake in the company, making it TeliaSonera’s fourth-largest shareholder.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.1 percent higher on Monday to 1,374.02 as the car and truck manufacturing sector was again in the news. Swedish stocks were generally higher after an election there, sending Stockholm’s OMX 30 index 0.7 percent higher for the session.

As expected German truckmaker MAN made a bid for Swedish rival Scania. Scania, however, rejected the bid, worth €9.6 billion in cash and shares, in concert with major shareholders Volkswagen and Investor. Shares in MAN dropped 5.3 percent on the news, to €60.61, while Scania’s B shares were 5.9 percent higher to SKr449.50. Investor B shares added 0.7 percent to SKr154, while Volkswagen ended the session even at €65. Renault, which said that it had sold its Scania shares to MAN, dropped 1.8 percent to €88.15. Outside the MAN/Scania situation but still in the sector, DaimlerChrysler fell 0.8 percent to €38.85 after a 5.6 percent decline on Friday after it cut its operating profits forecast for the year.

Swedish companies that saw gains due to the post-election bounce included TeliaSonera, up 1.1 percent to SKr45.70 on speculation that the new center-right government, which owns 45.3 percent in the telecom operator, could sell its stake. Nordea Bank was 1.6 percent higher to SKr94.50, also on the expectation that the new government will sell its 20 percent stake for up to €5.2 billion. Likewise, air carrier SAS gained 2.2 percent to SKr93.75 on the possibility that the government will sell its 21.4 percent stake in the airline.

Not all Swedish shares were up, however. Telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson was up early but ended the session down 0.4 percent to SKr24.80. Elsewhere in the telecoms equipment sector, Finnish company Nokia continued its decline, dropping 1.1 percent to €14.97 amid continuing rumors that it will issue a profits warning soon.

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.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down for the day on Friday as well as lower for the week as a whole. The 300 lost 0.6 percent on the day to 1,260.8, a loss of 1.2 percent during the week as investors seemed to ignore positive economic data.

In the telecommunications sector, Telefonica declined by 1.6 percent to €12.79, while TeliaSonera dropped 10.9 percent to SKr40.00 after it made public plans to enter the Spanish mobile phone market.

Aircraft manufacturer EADS lost 24.7 percent to €20.00 after it said it would lose €2 billion in profits in the next four years due to delays in delivery of the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jet. Further hurting the company, some executives had to admit mistakes in selling shares just weeks before the delays were made known to the public.

In the banking sector, Credit Agricole added 0.1 percent to €28.02 after offering for Greek bank Emporiki, which added 12.2 percent to €26.30 on news of the bid.

Pharmaceuticals were mixed. Bayer added 0.6 percent to €33.31 after it triumphed over Merck in a bidding battle for Schering and received an upgrade from “hold” to “add” from WestLB. Merck dropped 0.2 percent to €73.80, while Schering was up 3.4 percent to €89.14.

In Europe on Thursday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 ended the day in positive territory on a late rally. Investors seemed to discount inflation and interest rate worries even though the minutes of the most recent meeting of the US Federal Reserve, released during the day, were taken to mean that US interest rates are likely to rise again when the Fed meets later in the month.

The telecommunications sector was mixed on the day, although there were more gainers than losers. TeliaSonera dropped 4.3 percent to SKr45.80 after it admitted that its chief executive and another company official had been charged with bribery in relation to a product-launch event. Elsewhere in the sector, Dresden Kleinwort Wasserstein suggested that its clients investing in telecoms to leave Telefonica in favor of Telecom Italia. Telefonica still added 0.1 percent to €12.78 and Telecom Italia was up 1.4 percent to €2.215. Belgacom gained 3.4 percent to €25.43 on a target share price increase from €29 to €29.90 from Bear Stearns, which also reconfirmed its “outperform” rating on the company’s shares. France Telecom advanced by 0.7 percent to €17.58.

Banks were also mixed on the day. National Bank of Greece lost 5.8 percent to €31.88 after shareholders gave their approval to a rights issue intended to raise the funds to purchase a stake in Finansbank of Turkey. Another Greek bank, Alpha Bank, also saw declines on the day as it dropped 2.9 percent to €18.96. EFG Eurobank, however, added 0.1 percent to €22.06. Elsewhere, the Bank of Ireland added 5 percent to €14.15 when Lehman Brothers upped its targets share price for the bank from €13.80 to €15.17.

Utilities saw declines after several energy suppliers were raided in an investigation into anti-competitive practices. Eon, one of those utilities targeted in the raids, dropped 0.1 percent to €89.87. Also in Germany, RWE dropped 1.2 percent to €65.85. Gaz de France also declined, by 0.6 percent to €27.16.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.1 percent to 1,387.35 on Tuesday despite gains in the automobile manufacturing sector.

Swiss luxury goods manufacturer Richemont dropped 3 percent to SFr64.15 on profit taking after it reported that annual sales was up 17 percent due to growth in its jewelry and watch making units. Richemont’s shares have added 16 percent since the beginning of the year.

Also down on the day was household appliance maker Electrolux. The company’s shares dropped 2.2 percent on the day to SKr218.50 after Goldman Sachs reiterated its “underperform” rating and cut its earnings per share estimate by 10 percent on the prospect of further rises in the cost of raw materials.

Gainers on the day included STMicroelectronics, which added 1.2 percent to €15.72 ahead of its quarterly earnings report which was due to be released after the close of trade. Infineon Technologies added 2.6 percent to €9.44 on an upgrade from “equal-weight” to “overweight” from Lehman Brothers. In addition, Infineon’s target share price was raised from €8 to €12.

Telecommunications company TeliaSonera was also up on the day, by 1.9 percent to SKr48.90, on higher than expected first quarter core earnings and a proposal for an additional annual dividend.

Among carmakers, Renault added 7.1 percent to €92.05 after it said its first quarter sales were up by 5.8 percent, year on year, better than the 4 percent advance that had been expected. Merrill Lynch raised Renault’s target share price from €85 to €100, while Dresden Kleinwort Wasserstein upped the target from €95 to €97. Elsewhere in the sector, Volvo was up 4.4 percent to SKr370.50, also on better than expected profits in the first quarter.

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.