European stocks end up for second day

European shares closed higher for the second day in a row yesterday, with Britain's Lloyds TSB pushing up bank stocks after an upbeat outlook, while the London Stock Exchange surged on a bid approach. Shares in the LSE jumped nearly 26 per cent to a...

European shares closed higher for the second day in a row yesterday, with Britain's Lloyds TSB pushing up bank stocks after an upbeat outlook, while the London Stock Exchange surged on a bid approach.

Shares in the LSE jumped nearly 26 per cent to a new record at 540 pence after Deutsche Boerse made a £1.3 billion approach, which was rejected by Europe's biggest equity market. The German bourse operator fell four per cent.

SAP rose 1.3 per cent, and Business Objects was up 0.6 per cent after better-than-expected results from US sector leader Oracle Corp, which boosted hopes that European software firms would benefit from an improved US market.

The FTSEurofirst index of pan-European blue chips ended 0.82 per cent stronger at 1,037.94 points, adding to Friday's 0.4 per cent rise. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.84 per cent to 2,928.4 points.

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