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Telecoms lead European markets higher

European markets gained ground on Friday, with telecom stocks at the forefront, though lower-than-forecast growth in France and a lower start to US trading held positive sentiment in check. A stronger dollar also gave a lift to European exporters.

Continental benchmarks notched higher, with the German DAX 30 up 0.01 percent at 4,360, and the French CAC-40 index adding 0.3 percent at 4,096. In London, the benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.2 percent to 4,972.

French shares were narrowly higher amid data showing GDP grew 0.2 percent in the first quarter, slower than the 0.5 percent forecast by economists. In addition, fourth-quarter GDP last year was revised lower to 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent.

Telecom companies Vodafone PLC, France Telecom SA, Deutsche Telekom AG and O2 PLC all gained ground.

Noting strong results out from BT Group PLC on Thursday, Hannes Wittig at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said: "The European telecoms sector has underperformed for a while now this year and may now be catching up a little bit."

Anglo-Dutch consumer products group Unilever NV added 1.4 percent after announcing that it will sell its prestige perfumes business to privately held Coty Inc for US$800 million.

Shares in Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB climbed 4.6 percent on takeover hopes following a consortium's agreed takeover of rival Maytag Corp.

Actavis Group rose close to 5 percent in Iceland after it agreed to pay as much as US$600 million for closely held Amide Pharmaceutical Inc of New Jersey, the generic-pharmaceutical producers said.

UK property developer Pillar Property PLC shares climbed 6.6 percent on Friday. The company said it is in advanced talks that may lead to an offer at ?8.55 (US$15.68) in cash per share.

Meanwhile, shares in razor-to-lighter maker Bic SA surged almost 6 percent in Paris after the company said its comparable sales had risen 12.2 percent by the end of April. For the full year, Bic said it now expects comparable sales growth of above 6 percent.
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