Canal Plus drives Paris to another record close

Shares in Paris raced to yet another record close - their 16th in 20 sessions - led by soaring telecom and high-tech stocks.

Canal Plus roared ahead more than 20 per cent at one stage as investors re-evaluated its interest in inter-active TV operations in the wake of the explosive flotation of OpenTV.

Having been suspended three times during the course of the session, the company closed up 18 per cent or €14.45 at €92. Vivendi, which owns part of Canal Plus, was carried €3.50 higher to €78.80. Thomson Multimedia, which holds a 5 per cent stake in OpenTV, also rocketed, rising 14 per cent or €5 to close at €40.

The rally in computer stocks was only marginally less notable. STMicroelectronics sped up 11 per cent or €12.20 to €122.30 with Nasdaq's closure for the Thanksgiving holiday enticing US investors to European exchanges. Index bellwether France Telecom also scored heavy gains, rising €6.10 to €116.

Frankfurt advanced 142.72 to 5,961.45 on the Xetra Dax index, its sharpest one-day gain for more than a month.

Mannesmann strode back to centre stage amid a renewed burst of speculation that counter-offers to the takeover bid from Vodafone AirTouch were being lined up. The strength of sterling against the euro helped lift the value of the Vodafone bid to above €250 a share. Mannesmann rose €15.20 to €202.25 for a two-day advance of almost 12 per cent.

Banks failed to share in the general excitement after another day of uncertainty as a result of government-sponsored plans to rescue Philipp Holzmann, the failed construction group.

Deutsche Bank, which owns 15 per cent of Holzmann, came off 30 cents at €67.79. Dresdner lost 78 cents at €47.12 but HypoVereinsbank rallied, adding 80 cents at €64.55.

Amsterdam, boosted by solid gains for the heavyweight international stocks, ended 9.93 higher at a record 608.90 on the AEX index.

Philips rose €5.55 or 5 per cent at €117 and Royal Dutch gained €1.28 at €61.30. Unilever added 90 cents at €56.95. Semiconductor group ASM Lithography jumped €5.75 or 7.1 per cent to a record high of €86.75.

Wolters Kluwer fell to €29.90 after Goldman Sachs cut its price target for the media group from €50 to €30. The stock ended 23 cents lower at €31.

Talk that it could enter the benchmark AEX index early next year continued to underpin strong gains at cable TV group UPC, which added €3.20 at €98.

Milan pressed higher as Internet fever boosted high-tech and related stocks. The Mibtel index finished 458 or 1.9 per cent higher at 24,730.

Broadcaster Mediaset, up 7.3 per cent at €11.24, and publisher Mondadori, up 7.8 per cent at €19.75, hit year highs. Both companies are part of the Fininvest media empire controlled by Mr Silvio Berlusconi, itself a recent newcomer to the Internet services sector.

Finmatica, whose bourse debut was postponed because of excessive gains on Wednesday, managed to trade for a hectic 17 minutes before it was again suspended, having soared to a 500 per cent premium to the issue price. By the close, the shares were indicated at €39, a 680 per cent premium to the issue price.