LONDON: European stock markets won modest gains Tuesday amid a mega-takeover bid involving the dairy products industry, at the start of a shortened trading week after the long Easter holiday weekend.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 0.34 percent to 6,038.74 points in midday deals, Frankfurt's DAX 30 grew 0.45 percent to 7,328.16 points and in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.25 percent to 4,031.80.
The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies increased by 0.35 percent to 2,946.56 points.
Investors returned to their desks after a four-day Easter break, while London markets will be shut on Friday for the royal wedding and next Monday for an additional public holiday in Britain.
On Wednesday, all eyes will be on the initial official estimate of British first quarter growth after the economy surprisingly contracted at the end of 2010.
On Tuesday in Italy, French dairy giant Lactalis launched a takeover bid worth 3.4 billion euros ($4.9 billion) for Italy's Parmalat to create the sector's top company.
Lactalis already owns 29 percent of Parmalat and a group of Italian companies has been scrambling to block the takeover amid nationalist sentiment and fears over the French company's dominant role on the Italian market.
Investors however cheered the bid, with Parmalat shares rocketing up 11.76 percent to 2.584 euros in the first deals on the Milan stock exchange.
Lactalis, already the world's top cheese producer, said it was offering 2.60 euros per share -- 21.3 percent more than the average over the past 12 months.
"The Lactalis Group combined with Parmalat will have an annual turnover of around 14 billion euros, which would make it the biggest group in the world for dairy products," Lactalis said in its statement.
Investors were awaiting the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, which opens on Tuesday.
The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to maintain interest rates at between zero and 0.25 percent, where they have stood since December 2008.
Traders were also awaiting corporate earnings from US majors Coca-Cola, UPS, Ford, Lockheed Martin, and Delta Airlines.
Japanese shares ended 1.17 percent lower on Tuesday, hit by a firmer yen, worries over automobile production and a disappointing earnings report from Nintendo, brokers said.
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