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EUROPE: Insurers and banks help Europe snap four-week decline

European stocks had their biggest weekly gain since November, led by insurers and banks, after JPMorgan Chase & Co's increased bid for Bear Stearns Cos eased concern that financial firms would collapse and Swiss Life Holding reported better-than-estimated profit.

Allianz SE, Europe's biggest insurer, and UBS AG, the region's largest bank by assets, paced the rally. HBOS Plc, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, rose the most in more than six years after the company's executives bought shares in the bank. BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Group led mining stocks higher.

The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index added 3.3 percent to 306.69 in the four-day week, shortened by the Easter holiday. That was the first advance in five weeks.

The measure is down 16 percent this year, the worst first quarter since at least 1987, on concern more than US$208 billion in credit losses and mortgage debt will hurt profit growth and economic expansion.

"It's been one of the more turbulent quarters in history," said Michael O'Sullivan, head of UK research at Credit Suisse Group in London.

"The market has this week brushed aside weak macro numbers, particularly out of the US, which suggests that this short-term rally we're seeing has some length to go," O'Sullivan said.

National benchmarks climbed in all of the 18 western European markets. Germany's DAX Index rose 3.8 percent. France's CAC 40 added 3.6 percent, as did the UK's FTSE 100.

The STOXX 50 increased 3 percent and the Euro STOXX 50, a measure for the euro region, jumped 3.9 percent. Most exchanges were closed on Monday for Easter.

Shares in the STOXX 600 are valued at an average 11.7 times estimated earnings, near the lowest since at least January 2002, weekly Bloomberg data show.
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