Cars drive Eurofirst higher

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 1.1 percent to 1,334.69 on Thursday, its fourth daily gain in a row and its highest closing figure in over two months. The Eurfirst has risen 8.5 percent since the middle of June. Much of the gains were credited to quarterly reports.

Utilities were up as it was announced that energy regulators in Spain have provisionally given their approval to the takeover of Endsea by Eon. Endsea added 4.3 percent to €26.22 and Eon was up 5.1 percent to €94.75. Gas Natural, which had also made a bid for Endsea, gained 3.5 percent to €24.68.

The automobile manufacturing sector saw gains related to quarterly results that were better than had been expected. DaimlerChrysler was 1.8 percent higher to €39.56 on its report of a rise of 11 percent in operating profits in the second quarter even though its Chrysler unit in the US did not do well. Volkswagen saw its operating profits rise by almost 50 percent. The report sent shares in VW up 8.8 percent on the session to €59.45.

Elsewhere among carmakers, Renault added 3.8 percent to €84.75 and BMW was up 2.9 percent to €39.80. Peugeot gained back 1 percent to €41.40 after yesterday’s loss on a less than favorable quarterly report.

Among losers, France Telecom dropped 1.5 percent to €16.36 on a warning that it would not meet its full-year underlying sales growth target.

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