Buoyant mining sector lifts European indices

Eurostoxx 50: 2,984.66 (+20.97) Frankfurt DAX: 7,217.02 (+38.24) Paris CAC: 4,061.91 (+33.61):EUROPEAN STOCKS rose, extending the Stoxx Europe 600 Index's third straight week of gains, as yesterday's 7.1-magnitude aftershock in Japan caused limited economic damage.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto led basic-resource producers higher as metal prices advanced on the London Metal Exchange.

The Stoxx 600 gained 0.3 per cent to 281.68 at the close in London.

“Equities are looking attractive,” Lothar Mentel, who oversees about $3.2 billion as the London-based chief investment officer at Octopus Investments, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We’ve had good macroeconomic updates and companies are earning good money. Valuations are at low levels.”

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, gained 2.7 per cent to 2,585.5p, while Rio Tinto, the third biggest, climbed 3.2 per cent to 4,524p. Fresnillo, the world’s largest primary silver producer, soared 2.4 per cent to 1,646p.

Vallourec jumped 4.7 per cent to €84.10 as the French producer of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry was raised to “outperform” from “neutral” at Credit Suisse.

Deutsche Boerse gained 2.9 per cent to €54.45, the highest price in four weeks.

Sky Deutschland surged 3.5 per cent to €3.07. The German pay-TV operator controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will make its programmes available on mobile phones, laptop computers and Apple’s iPad as it attempts to add subscribers in Europe’s biggest TV market.

TNT tumbled 13 per cent to €16.01, the biggest decline since October 2008.

The mail carrier said the express unit’s profit fell in the first 12 weeks of 2011 as Arab revolts in the Middle East and north Africa and floods in Australia caused its volume to drop.

Air France-KLM, the largest French airline, fell 1.4 per cent to €11.46 as oil climbed above $111 in New York for the first time in 30 months.

International Consolidated Airlines slid 2.5 per cent to 217.4p in London.

Hochtief slipped 1.8 per cent to €68.76, extending the biggest retreat since October 2009. – (Bloomberg)