European stocks end up

European shares ended a choppy week's trading on a bright note on the back of upbeat results from Ericsson and firm oil stocks, while an economic report eased worries over the strength of the US economy.

But disappointing quarterly sales skimmed 4.7 per cent from shares in cosmetics giant L'Oreal, and Serono shed 5.4 per cent after an unexpected charge forced the Swiss biotechnology firm to post a deep first-quarter net loss.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips added 0.8 per cent to finish at 1,072.4 points.

European equity markets tracked Wall Street's late Thursday session gains, spurred by positive economic news.

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, published after European markets had closed on Thursday, showed an expansion of factory activity in the mid-Atlantic states region, which helped soothe investors rattled by fears of stagflation after recent data showed slowing economic activity and inflationary pressures.

But concerns about the strength of the world's leading economy remained.

"The Philly Fed survey... suggests more near-term manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region. However, the downtick in the six-month outlook indicates that businesses are less certain about their future economic prospects," said economist Sheryl King at Merrill Lynch.

Despite yesterday's market gains, Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 index ended down 1.1 per cent for the week. The narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index, which gained 0.9 per cent to 2,976.4 points yesterday, showed a 1.3 per cent retreat for the week.

A clutch of pleasing earnings results helped investors look past their economic worries.

Ericsson, the world's largest telecoms equipment maker, posted forecast-topping results, further boosting the technology sector a day after Nokia also surprised positively. Ericsson shares gained 3.9 per cent.

Nokia shares extended Thursday's gains by another 1.7 per cent, while business software maker SAP, which on Thursday posted forecast-beating licence sales for the first quarter, gained another 1.9 per cent.

Strategists at JPMorgan said investor sentiment regarding Europe's first-quarter earnings was overly negative.

"Contrary to fears of imminent earnings disappointments, the Q1 earnings reporting season has seen a continuation of the prolonged spell of positive surprises," said Abhijit Chakrabortti, a strategist at JPMorgan.

"(In Europe) sluggish economic data flow will be short-lived, being caused mainly by high oil prices. The fundamentals of the global economy look strong enough to re-engineer an acceleration in economic activity in the second half of '05, both in the US and euro zone."

Other standout stock movers yesterday included UBS, down 1.4 per cent after the bank paid a dividend of three Swiss francs per share on its 2004 results.

In the media sector, Havas surged 4.3 per cent to a year high after top stockholder Vincent Bollore asked for four seats on the board of the advertising giant, a move that stoked hopes among investors that the business tycoon would push for changes. Bollore is known for taking stealth stakes in companies and then sometimes forcing a restructuring.