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AFX European Summary -- Midday
- European markets at midday

LONDON (AFX) - Share prices remained higher at midday, with more gains
across the mining sector and firm oil stocks helping to lift the FTSE 100 to
near 4-1/2 year highs, dealers said.
By 12.05 pm, the FTSE 100 index was up 36.9 points at 5,584.8, while the
broader indices were also in positive territory.
Volume however, remained below average, with 758.9 mln shares changing hands
in 80,543 deals.

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Share prices were higher in late morning trade following a
strong rally on Asian markets and as oil prices eased, with Bayer rising sharply
as it gained earlier-than-expected approval from the US FDA for its Nexavar
drug, dealers said.
At 11.21 am, the DAX 30 index was 26.24 points or 0.49 pct higher at
5,382.84, having moved between 5,367.68-5,389.69 so far this session.

PARIS (AFX) - Share prices were higher at midday, in line with other bourses
in Europe, as the CAC-40 index's ability to hold the 4,700 level heartened
investors, dealers said.
At 12.38 pm, the CAC-40 was up 30.01 points or 0.64 pct at 4,733.49. There
were 32 CAC-40 stocks up, five down and three unchanged.
Matif January CAC-40 futures were up 31.5 points at 4,743.0, and the euro
was quoted at 1.1874 usd, against 1.1867 early today.

MILAN (AFX) - Share prices were higher at midday trading, led by speculative
gains in Generali and its unit Alleanza, while banks were hit by some profit
taking following last sessions's gains, dealers said.
At 12.30 pm, the Mibtel index rose 0.37 pct to 26,808, the S&P/Mib added
0.51 pct to 35,720, and the Mib30 was up 0.48 pct at 35,487.

MADRID (AFX) - Share prices were higher in midday trade, in line with the
broad European trend, amid blue chip gains with Endesa outperforming, dealers
said.
At 12.20 pm, the IBEX-35 index put on 73.5 points to 10,645.8, after trading
in a range of 10,576-10,668, on turnover of 805 mln eur.

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Share prices were higher at midday as US futures point to
a higher opening on Wall Street, dealers said.
At 12.41 pm, the AEX was up 2.70 points or 0.63 pct at 428.19, after opening
at 435.94.
Government bonds traded mostly lower, while the euro stood at 1.1876 versus
1.1886 usd late yesterday.

STOCKHOLM (AFX) - Shares were slightly higher in midmorning trade led by
Ericsson on a rebound from its recent falls, and by Trelleborg after the
engineering company said it has acquired the CRP Group oil and gas services
company, brokers said.
At 11.15 am, the OMX Stockholm index was up 0.43 pct at 297.85 and the OMX
Stockholm 30 up 0.46 pct at 948.07. Turnover was 5.525 bln skr.

COPENHAGEN (AFX) - Share prices were higher in midmorning trade, led by
further gains in AP Moeller-Maersk and Vestas Wind Systems, brokers said.
At 11.20 am, the OMXC20 index was 3.41 points higher at 386.00 and the OMXCB
Benchmark index was 2.00 points higher at 359.24.

ZURICH (AFX) - Share prices were higher midmorning on low volumes as the
market winds down for Christmas, with Kudelski, Novartis and Swisscom in focus.
At 11.21 am, the SMI was up 33.29 points at 7,549.98 and the SPI was 24.16 at
5,706.97.

HELSINKI (AFX) - Shares were higher in thin midday deals, on the back of
Nokia's strong opening, dealers said.
At 11.57 am, the OMX Helsinki 25 index was up 0.5 pct at 2,284.50 points.
The OMX Helsinki index was up 0.6 pct at 8,147.29 points on sluggish
turnover of 117.9 mln eur.
The Helsinki CAP portfolio index was also 0.6 pct higher at 4,279.28 points.

ATHENS (AFX) - Shares were edging higher in late morning, in thin news-flow,
led by OPAP and Pireaus Bank, brokers said.
At 11.40 am local time the ASE general index was 0.25 pct higher at 3,621.88
points and blue chips were up 0.3 pct at 2,003.55 points.
Mid caps were 0.42 pct higher at 3,275.45 points.

Top Stories

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Royal Philips Electronics NV said it will take a 418 mln
eur impairment charge in a book value write-off on its LG.Philips Displays joint
venture in the fourth quarter.
Some 128 mln eur of this consists of the write-off of the remaining book
value of Philips' original investment in the LG.Philips joint venture. Some 290
mln eur will be written off due to accumulated currency effects.
Philips will also take a 42 mln eur cash charge on loans taken by
LG.Philips.

PARIS (AFX) - French police have raided the headquarters of defence
electronics group Thales as part of a probe into corruption allegations by a
former executive of the group.
The raid, mid-Tuesday, was carried out by around 10 police officers with
investigating judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, sources close to the inquiry said.
Michel Josserand, former head of Thales' engineering and consulting unit,
accused Thales of corrupt practices during an investigation into the attribution
of contracts for a tramway system under construction in the town of Nice.

STOCKHOLM (AFX) - Skandia Insurance Co Ltd said it still considers Old
Mutual's 3.4 bln stg bid for it to be inadequate.
Since a large number of Skandia shareholders have yet to accept the
Anglo-South African company's offer, Skandia said it will for now continue to
trade as an independent listed company.
The Swedish financial services company's statement came a day after Old
Mutual said it has acceptances representing 62.5 pct of all the shares in
Skandia and that it will therefore be proceeding with the takeover offer.

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Germany's Federal Supreme Court said it is reversing a
lower court "not guilty" verdict on the Mannesmann case, whose six defendants
include Deutsche Bank AG CEO Josef Ackermann.
The judge said the ruling means Ackermann and the others accused in the case
will have to undergo a re-trial on charges of violation of shareholders' trust.
A lawyer for Ackermann told reporters the verdict means "the procedure will
start all over again". The lawyer also said he would not rule out the re-trial
would again end with a not guilty decision in the lower court.

TOKYO (AFX) - Engineering firm Chiyoda Co said it and France's Technip has
won a contract to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Qatar.
Each of the two plants would be capable of producing 7.8 mln tons of LNG a
year by the end of the decade, with North America the primary market for the
gas, Chiyoda said in a statement.
"The value of the contract is around 4 bln usd," the statement, said.

LONDON (AFX) - Associated British Ports Holdings PLC received final approval
for its proposed Quay 2005 container terminal in Hull.
"After carefully considering the likely impacts on local residents,
and balancing them against the wider economic benefits, I am satisfied that,
overall, the Quay 2005 project will bring significant benefits to the city and
to the region as a whole," said Transport Minister Derek Twigg.
The company plans to invest as much as 35 mln stg developing the terminal.

LONDON (AFX) - Aegis Group PLC said trading for the 11 months to November
has been in line with expectations, with stronger-than-expected growth in its
specialist media businesses offsetting weaker growth in advertising spending in
many European markets.
In a trading statement, the UK media and marketing services company, which
has become a high-profile bid target, also said it expects to make "further
progress" in 2006.

AMSTERDAM (AFX) - The Dutch economy grew in the third quarter by 0.6 pct
from the previous three months and was up by 1.3 pct from a year ago, according
to revised figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The sequential increase was due largely to an increase in exports and
investments, and government spending in the public health care sector, the
bureau added.

PARIS (AFX) - French household consumption of manufactured goods rose 1.1
pct in November compared with a revised 0.1 pct fall in October, according to
figures from the Insee statistics office.
Year-on-year consumption rose 3.2 pct.
The October figure was originally reported as a rise of 0.5 pct, Insee said.
Economists polled by AFX News said they expected household consumption to be
up 0.5 pct over the month and up 2.3 pct on the year.

LONDON (AFX) - High street activity picked up markedly in December, the UK's
largest business lobby group said.
In its monthly distributive trades survey, the Confederation of British
Industry said its volume of sales balance in December stood at 0 pct, against
-35 pct in November and analysts' expectations of a modest improvement to -22
pct.
That was the first time since February that the balance was not negative and
the monthly improvement represented the biggest positive move in over 10 years.
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