European blue-chip shares largely held onto their gains yesterday afternoon after shares on Wall Street ignored weak durable goods data to open broadly higher and after the euro eased off its all-time highs.

Technology stocks such as Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, and Dutch electronic goods giant Philips led the way, with respective gains of 5.8 per cent and 3.7 per cent, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index edged nearer its one-year highs.

Shares in Terra Lycos jumped more than five per cent after parent company Telefonica launched a cash offer for the shares it does not already own in the Spanish Internet service provider.

But French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen fell 2.9 per cent after it gave investors a timely reminder that business conditions remain tough, warning that it would struggle to meet its full-year targets because the strong euro was hurting its profit margins.

By 1336 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was up 1.7 per cent at 818 points. The euro zone DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 1.6 per cent.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average added 0.3 per cent while the Nasdaq rose 0.4 per cent.

Data earlier showed US durable goods orders fell 2.4 per cent in April, more than double the expected fall of 1.0 per cent and the biggest monthly fall since September 2002.

"This was not a very good number, but it does lag a bit and is volatile. There may be some impact from the war in Iraq still," said Matthew Wickens, global economist at ABN AMRO.