LONDON: European stock markets ended mixed on Friday as blockbuster takeover bids dominated the news.
London's FTSE 100 index of top companies climbed 0.25 percent to 6,825.20 points, but Frankfurt's DAX 30 slid 0.17 percent to 9,987.24 points and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.48 percent to 4,541.34 points.
Milan fell 1.03 percent and Madrid dropped 0.29 percent.
The European single currency fell to $1.3588 from $1.3606 late in New York on Thursday.
"The FTSE 100 was outperforming the rest of Europe on take-over speculation in a light day of trading that saw stocks hover near recent multi-year highs thanks to the supportive monetary policy environment," said analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK as European trading neared the closing bell.
Mergers and acquisitions were in focus.
In London, investors seized on news that Shire Pharmaceuticals had rejected a £27-billion informal bid from US giant AbbVie, arguing that it "fundamentally" undervalued the group.
The news sent Shire's share price soaring 16.9 percent to 4,371 pence.
"A bit of merger and acquisition excitement has been just the ticket to enliven trading on what may otherwise have been something of a lacklustre end to the week," said analyst David Madden at traders IG.
Shire, which is listed in London and New York but based in Dublin, also highlighted concerns over AbbVie's proposal to make Britain its home base for tax purposes.
The US firm earlier revealed it had made a third cash-and-shares bid, pitched at £46.26 per share, valuing Shire at the equivalent of $46 billion or 33.7 billion euros.
The blockbuster takeover is the latest multi-billion-dollar deal to rock the global pharmaceuticals sector, and comes after Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca fought off a $117-billion takeover bid from US giant Pfizer last month.
"The big news on the London equity market is Shire," noted Spreadex analyst David White.
"The big move in price from such a large firm accounts for a good amount of the move in the (FTSE) index."
Alstom higher on deal:
News that the French government supports General Electric's bid for Alstom sent shares in the power-to-rail group up 1.1 percent to 28.00 euros, although that wasn't enough to push the CAC 40 into positive territory.
Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said France favours GE's 12.35 billion euro ($16.8 billion) bid for Alstom over a rival offer from Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and that the French government plans to take a 20 percent stake in the French industrial jewel.
Siemens shares stayed in positive territory, gaining 0.31 percent to 100.25 euros in Frankfurt deals.
Newly floated shares in the stock market operator Euronext fell by 2.0 percent to 19.60 euros, dipping below their issue price of 20 euros.
On Wall Street, US stocks pushed higher despite mixed earnings reports and as investors eyed ongoing unrest in Iraq.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced by 0.25 percent to 16,964.26 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.12 percent to 1,961.88 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.03 percent at 4,360.57.
Asian shares were mixed, hit partly by profit-taking after gains following the US Federal Reserve's broadly upbeat outlook on the US economy a day earlier.
Seoul shed 1.20 percent, Sydney fell 0.89 percent and Tokyo finished flat, while Shanghai added 0.15 percent and Hong Kong gained 0.11 percent.
In foreign exchange deals, the British pound slipped to $1.7011 from $1.7039 late on Thursday, when it had struck a five-year peak of $1.7063 on expectations of a British interest rate hike later this year.
The euro edged up to 79.88 British pence from 79.85 pence. On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to $1,312.50 an ounce from $1,293 on Thursday.
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