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Europe's end-of-week rise
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May 4, 2001: 12:27 p.m. ET
Bourses dampened by U.S. jobs data; London rises on Halifax merger
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LONDON (CNN) - European markets ended the week higher, with gains cut back by higher U.S. unemployment news suggesting no early end to a slowdown.
London's FTSE 100 showed strongest, up 1.8 percent at 5,870.3, as banks were boosted by the agreed merger of the Halifax and Bank of Scotland, major oil companies recovered and money poured into defensive stocks.
In Paris, the banking sector weighed down the CAC 40 blue chip index, which finished virtually unchanged at 5,455.55. The index was hit by a profits warning from Societe Generale (PGLE), France's third-largest bank, which was down 3.7 percent.
Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was up 0.4 percent at 6,114.53, with airline Deutsche Lufthansa (FLHA) gaining the most – up 4.6 percent – on hopes that a pay strike involving pilots would be resolved soon.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index fell 0.1 percent, but the MIB 30 in Milan was up 0.3 percent and the SMI in Zurich ended 0.9 percent higher.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was up 0.7 percent, with its health-care sub-index rising 3.3 percent.
In the U.S., stocks were rebounding from the poor unemployment figures by late morning. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 28.95 points, or 0.3 percent, at 10,825.60, while the Nasdaq Composite index recovered to be up just 5.43 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2151.63.
The employment report showed the U.S. economy losing jobs at the fastest rate in a decade and prompted fears of reduced consumer spending and a longer slowdown. But things turned around as traders took the view that this would mean further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
In the currency market, the euro rose against the U.S. dollar to 89.35 cents from 88.94 cents in late New York trading on Thursday.
In London, Abbey National (ANL), Britain's No. 2 mortgage lender behind the Halifax, was up 2.6 per cent amid hopes that the merger of the Halifax (HFX) and the Bank of Scotland (BSCT) to create the fifth-largest bank, would help its Lloyds TSB (LSE:LLOY) merger case, which is under antitrust review.
The Halifax also rose 3.9 percent and the Bank of Scotland was up 4.3 percent.
Defensive health-care stocks Nycomed Amersham (NAM) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) rose 6 percent and 3 percent respectively. Oil stocks recovered from Thursday's setbacks – BP (BP-) up 3.4 percent and Shell (SHEL) up 3.3 percent.
In Paris, information technology consultant Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (PCAP) was the leading loser, down 8.8 percent after announcing a 9.7 percent rise in pro-forma first-quarter sales to  2.2 billion, which fell slightly short of analysts' estimates. Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on the group to "market perform." The second-worst faller was commercial television company TF1 (PTFI), which cut its ads forecasts and dropped 5.5 percent.
In Frankfurt, steel company Thyssen Krupp (FTKA) lost the most, falling 3.1 per cent on a general downgrade of the sector by UBS Warburg over surplus supplies. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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