Eurofirst on 3 year high

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.4 percent on Monday to close at 1,135.23 after peaking at 1,135.24 earlier in the day - the highest level since June 2002.

Gains were led by takeover news in the banking a cement sectors, as well as on good news from Wall Street.

In the banking sector, Italian bank UniCredito announced Sunday that it has agreed to buy HVB Group in Germany for €20 billion. On the news, shares in UniCredito were up 3.05 percent to €4.22 while HVB rose 2.7 percent to €20.56.

In other banking news, Dutch bank ABN Arno said on Friday that it was raising its bid for Italian bank Banca Antonveneta from €25 to €26.50 per share. ABN saw the value of its shares fall 0.97 percent to €19.43 on investor unease over the deal.

Banca Antonveneta’s shares, however, rose 2.93 percent to €27.02. Banco Popolare di Lodi, which is also in the bidding for Banca Antonveneta, saw the value of its shares rise 0.18 percent to €7.925.

Meanwhile, in the cement sector, eidelbergCement gained 18.91 percent to €59.75 on Friday’s news that Spohn Cement had proffered a takeover bid of €60 per share, a price which valued the company at €6.5 billion.

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