Markets lifted by drugmakers rally

The market in Dublin rode the wave of resurgence that swept through European exchanges yesterday, as stocks across the continent rose the most in seven weeks. They were boosted by mergers and acquisitions activity in the pharmaceuticals sector and by bullish euro zone consumer confidence predictions.

The rally in drugmakers also nudged US stocks into rising for the sixth straight day of trading across the Atlantic, the longest streak of gains there since September.
DUBLIN
The Siberian-focused and Dublin- headquartered oil explorer Petroneft climbed by 6.7 per cent to close at 80 cents, having been up 14 per cent in early morning trading. Activist shareholder Natlata, which is controlled by former Russian politician Maxim Korobov, said yesterday it may yet support a €62 million farm out of Petroneft's main asset in Russia.

Dragon Oil dropped by more than 2 per cent in a late flurry of afternoon trading, after the company issued a trading update in the morning. The explorer is sitting on cash reserves of $1.9 billion and Goodbody stockbrokers said it was on target to increase that to $2.2 billion by year's end.

Paddy Powe r climbed 3.6 per cent to close at €55.90. The company reaped significant rewards from a publicity stunt at a Manchester United football game at the weekend, when it paid for an actor to sit in the crowd near United manager David Moyes wearing a Grim Reaper costume.
LONDON
Shares in AstraZeneca surged 4.7 per cent in London after the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Pfizer had approached its British rival to propose a £60 billion takeover. Bloomberg sources said the two sides were not currently in negotiations.

GlaxoSmithKline climbed 5.2 per cent to 1,640 pence. Novartis is buying Glaxo's cancer-drug unit for as much as $16 billion and will sell its vaccines business, excluding the flu operations, to Glaxo for $7.1 billion, the Swiss-based company announced.

Royal Mail gained 2.6 per cent to 522 pence. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch raised its rating on the company to buy from neutral, saying the stock has the potential to gain 26 per cent because of its strong cash generation.
EUROPE
Nokia climbed 2.4 per cent to €5.44. The Finnish company said it expected to close the sale of its devices and services business to Microsoft on Friday. Separately, the Economic Times in India reported that HTC may consider buying the company's Chennai plant.

Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor , which once co-owned Esat Digifone with Denis O'Brien, rallied 4.5 per cent to 133.60 kroner. VimpelCom on April 18th agreed to sell a majority stake in its Algerian unit Djezzy in a deal that provides the phone company with $4 billion in cash as it strives to cut debt. Telenor owns a 33.1 per cent stake in VimpelCom.

Philips fell 4.7 per cent to €23.76 after the company said earnings dropped 13 per cent to €368 million. That trailed the average analyst estimate of €413 million. Sales fell 5 per cent to €5.02 billion.
NEW YORK
Netflix rallied 6.2 per cent to $370. The company behind the drama House of Cards said that it planned to charge new customers $1 to $2 a month more for its online video service. Netflix also reported first-quarter profit and subscriber growth that beat analysts' forecasts.

Harley-Davidson jumped 8.6 per cent to $73.33, the highest since January 2007. The maker of Road King motorbikes reported first-quarter earnings of $1.21 a share, beating the average analyst projection of $1.08. Sales also exceeded projections.

Comcast gained 3.1 per cent to $51.40 as the largest US cable company said increased numbers of video subscribers helped it post first-quarter profit of 68 cents a share, excluding some items. – Additional reporting: Reuters/Bloomberg