European shares rally for fourth straight session

Eurostoxx 50: 2,395.75 (+3.67) Frankfurt DAX: 5,730.63 (–54.22) Paris CAC: 3,265.83 (+9.07)EUROPEAN STOCKS rallied for a fourth day yesterday, the longest stretch of gains in more than a month, after a report showed US manufacturing unexpectedly expanded in August, boosting optimism in the world's largest economy.

Nokia Oyj gained 5.2 per cent as Mosaid Technologies bought a portfolio of patents from the biggest mobile phone maker by volume.

“The data wasn’t as bad as feared and back into expansionary territory,” said Ioan Smith, a director at Knight Capital Europe in London. “We got the instant positive reaction in the market that you would expect, but this reflects little change to the anemic pace of growth in manufacturing.”

A report showed that US manufacturing unexpectedly expanded in August. Economists had predicted that the gauge would fall for the first time in two years.

RBS rose 8.2 per cent to 26.25p, Barclays jumped 5.6 per cent to 180.35p and Lloyds Banking rallied 6.2 per cent to 35.67p.

Nokia rose 5.2 per cent to €4.73 as Canada’s Mosaid Technologies acquired a portfolio of about 2,000 patents and patent applications originally filed by Nokia for an undisclosed sum.

Deutsche Telekom climbed 3 per cent to €9.07 after tumbling more than 7 per cent on Wednesday.

Iliad gained 2.4 per cent to €85.54 after confirming its short and medium-term forecasts. The broadband provider who is setting up France’s fourth mobile-phone network also posted first-half net income of €145 million, beating the average analyst estimate of €134 million.

Charter International jumped 4.7 per cent to 799p after the British engineering group said that Melrose sweetened its proposal by 10p to 850p a share.

Lagardere tumbled 11 per cent to €21.16 after France’s biggest publisher predicted that recurring media earnings for the year will drop 5 to 7 per cent.

Temenos fell 4.5 per cent to 16.95 Swiss francs after Deutsche Bank recommended selling the Swiss financial software provider’s shares.

Eiffage slumped 18 per cent to €27.94, the largest slide on the Stoxx 600, after posting first-half net income of €43 million, compared with €70 million a year earlier. – (Bloomberg)