European stocks were higher at midday today, adding to a sharp two-day rally as investors felt euro zone debt crisis worries were overdone, but with trading subdued ahead of a holiday in some markets on Monday.
In Dublin the Iseq index of leading shares was up slightly 1.65 points to 2992.25 at 12.33 pm led by Kerry and Elan.
At 11am Irish time the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.4 per cent at 1,004.01 points, after surging 5.3 per cent over the past two sessions.
The index is on track to record a gain of 3.5 percent for the week but is still down 10 per cent from a mid-April peak, on worries about the euro zone's debt crisis.
Trading was subdued in some markets, ahead of a holiday in both the United States and Britain on Monday.
Pharmaceuticals were among the biggest gainers, with GlaxoSmithKline up 2.1 per cent. GlaxoSmithKline will help commercialise Amgen's keenly awaited new drug Prolia, which has been approved in Europe as a treatment for the brittle bone disease osteoporosis.
Novartis, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis rose between 0.9 and 2.3 per cent.
Banks were mostly higher across Europe, led by Spain's BBVA and Banco Santander, up 2.6 and 2.4 per cent respectively. Banks were badly hit in the early part of the week following the takeover by Spain's central bank of troubled savings bank CajaSur.
Most energy companies joined in the rally, as crude prices topped $75, helped by the euro continuing to rise against the dollar. China boosted sentiment his week by denying a report it was reviewing its bond holdings in the euro zone region.
ENI, BG, Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol rose between 0.5 and 0.8 per cent.
But BP fell 3 per cent. The company said today it still does not know whether its "top kill" operation designed to plug the biggest oil spill in United States history will be successful and puts the cost of tackling the disaster so far at $930 million.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC40 rose between 0.4 and 0.7 per cent.
Among individual shares, Unilever rose 2 per cent after UBS raised its rating for the household products firm to 'buy' from 'neutral', pointing out that the stock has significantly de-rated over the last six months.
Leisure shares rose after Nomura upgraded several companies and target prices in the sector. Whitbread and TUI Travel rose 2.6 and 2.9 per cent respectively.
Reuters