Takeovers help Wall Street higher

Takeover news sent Wall Street higher in midday trade on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.33 percent to 13,531.02 after going as high as 13,551.82 earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.21 percent to 2,544.6, while the S&P 500 was approaching record territory as it added 0.34 percent to 1,517.87. General Electric (NYSE: GE) gained on reports that it will sell its plastics unit to a Saudi Arabian company, while Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) said that it has made a deal to buy online advertiser aQuantive (NAS: AQNT). Other gains came on quarterly reports.

European markets were higher as well. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.97 percent to 1,600.27, while the Paris CAC-40 gained 1.23 percent to 6,101.14 and the Xetra Dax was 1.44 percent higher to 7,607.54 in Frankfurt. There were few losers in Paris, mostly in electric utilities and related areas. Gains on the continent came in the semiconductors, aerospace, engineering and oil sectors. The London markets were also higher, with the FTSE 100 up 0.94 percent to 6,640.9 and the FTSE 25 gaining 0.49 percent to 12,202.8. The UK oil sector followed the rest of the global sector on higher oil prices, but also because of rumors that BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) and Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSA, RDSB; NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) could be working on a deal. Oil services companies were included in those gains. Losers in London included the real estate and tobacco sectors, as well as airlines.

Equities markets were mixed in Asia and the Pacific, with more losers than gainers on the session. Gainers included the Sensex, which added 0.03 percent to 14,303.41 in India, and the Straits Times index in Singapore, which was 0.21 percent higher, to 3,512.4. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.43 percent to 20,904.84, while the Sydney Ordinaries were down 0.79 percent to 6,319.7. The Tokyo markets were also lower, with the Nikkei 225 0.6 percent lower to 17,399.58, while the Topix index fell 0.7 percent to 1,695.69 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps down for the its fifth straight record low of 813.18, a drop of 1.9 percent. In Tokyo miners, real estate and the consumer finance sector were all lower, while, as elsewhere, oil saw gains.

Story link: Takeovers help Wall Street higher