Frankfurt ignores Kohl's poll defeat

The Frankfurt bourse took the end of the 16-year Kohl era in its stride.

The Xetra Dax index closed 93.15 or 2 per cent higher at 4,677.56, largely on the back of Wall Street, as local investors awaited details of chancellor-elect Mr Gerhard Schroder's new centre-left government.

Utilities, however, had a rocky day on concerns that a government including the environmentalist Greens would push for an end to nuclear-generated energy.

Analysts noted that any new restrictions could hurt profits of power suppliers because nuclear plants provide a third of Germany's supplies.

Paris ended a volatile session with moderate gains. The CAC 40 index, which sank to 3,246.54 at one stage, finished 27.05 better at 3,337.64 in heavy turnover of 14.2 billion French francs.

France Telecom came in for an early rush of selling as talk of a share sale ran round the market. The rumours centred on an offer of a further tranche of government-owned shares in the telecoms group.

Later in the day, dealers were able to confirm that leading banks were carrying out a pre-placing of shares and convertible bonds. Best bets in Paris pointed to a price of Ffr350 for the direct equity content of the float.

Amsterdam rose 21.57 to 969.39 on the AEX following a rally for the heavyweight financials and a bounce for Philips.

Milan featured a sharp rise in BCI as a battle between two groups of rival shareholders intensified ahead of today's board meeting.

The real-time Mibtel index put on 742 or 4 per cent to close at its high for the day of 10,297.

Madrid edged higher helped by a further rally for leading banks. The general index finished 8.22 higher at 715.54.