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Sunday, October 3, 2010

European shares gain on China data; Repsol up

LONDON: European shares rose on Friday after strong manufacturing data pleased investors, while the Spanish energy giant Repsol gained as it agreed a joint venture with China's Sinopec. Energy stocks featured among the top movers. Oil major Repsol jumped 5.6 percent after Chinese refiner agreed to pay $7.1 billion for 40 percent of Repsol's .an oil deposits.

Both BG Group and Galp gained 4.9 percent and 5.4 percent respectively as traders cited read-across from the Reposl and Sinopec deal. By 0859 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was 0.4 percent higher at 1,065.59 points, after slipping 0.4 percent on Thursday. "The China data was positive and will be very good for companies exporting into the country," Heino Ruland, strategist at Frankfurt-based Ruland Research, said. Chinese manufacturing gathered momentum last month, with the official purchasing managers' index rising to 53.8 from 51.7 in August, beating forecasts and providing further evidence the economy is pulling smoothly out of a second-quarter swoon.

Miners were also in demand after the China data boosted recovery hopes, with the STOXX 600 Basic Materials index up 1.1 percent. Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were 1 to 1.5 percent higher. SACYR JUMPS Meanwhile, Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso, a leading shareholder of Repsol, climbed 12.5 percent on news of the oil giant's $17.8 billion joint venture in Brazil.

Later in the session investors will look at the final reading of the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for September, which will be released at 1355 GMT. The U.S. Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will release its September manufacturing index at 1400 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey said they expected a reading of 54.5 versus 56.3 in August.

"Ultimately the equity market seems to be stuck within a range and after the U.S. ISM manufacturing data the equity markets could change direction," Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital said. The technical picture showed the Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone's blue-chip index, was facing some resistance. The index rose 0.7 percent to 2,767.97 points, just under its 200-day moving average of 2,773.08 points.

The one-year forward price-to-earnings valuations on the STOXX Europe 600 stood at about 10.49 against a 10-year average of 13.57, Thomson Reuters Datastream showed. Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 0.8 percent higher, Germany's DAX gained 0.8 percent and France's CAC 40 was up 0.6 percent.

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