French chemicals concern Rhodia soared 15.3 per cent to €7.25 on market rumours that its German peer BASF could mount a bid. BASF put on 2.8 per cent to €39.58 as it and Rhodia both declined to comment. France's Aventis, which owns 26 per cent of Rhodia, put on 2.9 per cent to €86.80.

Rhodia's shares, which have lost more than 60 per cent this year, saw the slide accelerate last week after the company said it would swing to a wider than expected loss for 2001 as demand fell after the September 11th attacks in the US.

Bayer rose 1 per cent to €34.01 as sales of its Cipro drug soar in the wake of a rash of anthrax scares in the US.

This follows a journalist's death from the disease in Florida and news that a second man has been exposed to the disease.

Cipro is the only government-approved antibiotic for treatment of exposure to anthrax.

Bayer is reported to have sold down its inventory of Cipro after the surge in US demand and is now increasing production of the drug by 25 per cent at plants in Connecticut and Europe.

Notoriously volatile biotech group Genset soared 29.6 per cent to €6.08 on speculation that the French stock market watchdog was about to approve a €50 million funding line.

Oil stocks pushed steadily higher as investors tracked the latest upturn for crude prices.

Hopes for cuts in OPEC production combined with a steeper-than-expected decline in the latest weekly US energy inventories sent Brent Blend higher.

By the close, the North Sea marker was comfortably back above $22 a barrel.

Ahead of next month's formal meeting OPEC is widely expected to announce production cuts of up to one million barrels a day.

Oil sector sentiment was further boosted by the news that US crude stocks had fallen heavily in the first week of October.