European shares rebound slightly after slide

LONDON: Europe's leading stock markets recovered slightly on Monday as investors sought out bargains and reacted to takeover and jobs speculation after sharp losses before the weekend.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top shares rose 0.34 percent to 5,785.87 points in midday trade.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.10 percent to 7,076.81 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index won 0.28 percent to 3,815.74.

The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies advanced 0.12 percent to 2,735.78 points.

Europe's top indices had closed down between 1.25 and 1.90 percent on Friday after the European Union said it was studying a possible Greek debt "rescheduling" to ward off the threat of Greece defaulting on its massive debts.

"After the shocker that was Friday's trading session, equities are experiencing something of a rebound," said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital.

Markets are increasingly concerned over the state of the global economy, owing to the eurozone debt crisis and slower growth in the United States and China.

Traders appeared to put such concerns to one side on Monday, however, as European indices enjoyed a modest recovery.

London's biggest gainer was Eurasian Natural Resources, up 5.86 percent to 785.5 pence on reports that it faced a possible takeover by commodities giant Glencore worth £12 billion (13.6 billion euros, $19.6 billion).

Lloyds Banking Group's share price rose nearly 2.0 percent after weekend reports said that the state-rescued lender plans to axe 15,000 more jobs to save £1.0 billion.

LBG was up 1.94 percent to 47.91 pence after British newspapers said the lender plans a fresh assault on jobs after already slashing 28,000 posts since 2009.

Lloyds suffered huge losses in 2008 and 2009, as bad debts rocketed in the wake of its takeover of former rival HBOS, which was saddled with toxic or high-risk property investments. That led to the British state taking a 41-percent stake in the crisis-hit lender.

Newspapers reported that LBG's new chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio wants to strip away layers of management and exit some overseas markets, although the bank is not commenting on the speculation.

"Lloyds is making up a bulk of the volume traded so far today in the FTSE as it looks to trim more jobs," added Ladwa at ETX Capital.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011