Equities rise as Greece agrees on austerity plan

Eurostoxx 50:2,802.55 (+52.06) Frankfurt DAX:7,294.14 (+123.71) Paris CAC:3,924.23 (+22.34)

EUROPEAN STOCKS rallied the most in three months yesterday as Greek lawmakers passed a package of austerity measures needed to secure the next tranche of the European Union financial package.

Charter International soared 27 per cent as Melrose said it made a preliminary approach about a possible takeover offer for the engineering company.

Meyer Burger Technology climbed 3.7 per cent after winning a contract.

Salvatore Ferragamo surged 8.9 per cent on its first day of trading.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 1.8 per cent in London.

The Greek vote means “one problem has been removed, so it’s an element of support for the stock market,” said Guillaume Duchesne, an equity strategist at BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg.

“That gives a boost to stocks linked to economic growth,” he said.

National benchmark indexes rose in all 18 western European markets, except Iceland.

Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer, increased 3.2 per cent to €95.01 as the stock was upgraded to “overweight” from “equal weight” at Morgan Stanley.

Nobel Biocare, the second-largest maker of dental implants by sales, climbed 2.1 per cent to 16.87 francs.

Wacker Chemie advanced 3.2 per cent to €149.35.

Eramet, operator of the world’s largest ferronickel smelter, added 4.9 per cent to €221.70.

Outokumpu Oyj, a Finnish steel maker, increased 3.9 per cent to €8.84.

Antofagasta climbed 4.8 per cent to 1,365p. The copper producer controlled by Chile’s Luksic family sees “huge demand” for metals as China and other emerging markets invest in infrastructure and urbanization, chief executive officer Jean Paul Luksic said in London.

Ipsos rallied 3.5 per cent to €32.70 as Aegis, a UK buyer of advertising space, said Ipsos is the only company it’s talking to about a sale of its Synovate market- research unit.

Aegis advanced 0.7 per cent to 158.8p.

Senior, a UK maker of air ducts for Boeing and Airbus aircraft, jumped 8.3 per cent to 176p after saying pretax profit this year will exceed its forecasts. – (Bloomberg)