Cairn Energy climbed after Citigroup advised buying the shares, citing a possible bid.

Cadbury Schweppes jumped to a record after the Daily Telegraph said private-equity groups may buy the company's US drinks unit.

Legrand advanced as investors bet ABB will approach the company.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index is less than one point from a sixand-a-half-year high as takeovers outweigh concern the US economy is slowing.

Hanson and Reuters agreed to be bought last week, boosting the value of European deals in 2007 to $1.2 trillion. They reached a record $1.6 trillion last year. The Stoxx 600 advanced 0.6% to 392.58 in London, heading for a weekly gain of 0.7%. The Stoxx 50 rose 0.6% and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 nations sharing the euro, gained 0.6%.

Airlines limited the advance after British Airways reported a bigger-than-expected loss because of a labor dispute.

National benchmarks rose in all 18 western Europe markets.

France's CAC 40 added 0.8%.

Germany's DAX climbed 0.8 % as did the UK's FTSE 100.

UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank, may be close to announcing plans to acquire smaller competitor Capitalia as trading in the stocks was suspended.

Shares of Cairn Energy climbed 2.9% to 1786 pence after Citigroup raised its recommendation on the oil explorer in India to 'buy' from 'hold'. Cairn's shares yesterday rose as much as 4.8% on speculation it maybe a takeover target.

Statoil, Norway's biggest oil company, gained 2.5% to 166.25 kroner. Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, climbed 2% to 1868 pence.

Oil advanced on Thursday after European markets closed on speculation plant breakdowns will prevent re"ners from replenishing US gasoline stockpiles. Crude oil for June delivery climbed as much as 3.7%. It recently traded at $64.91 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Cadbury rose 1.9 % to 686.5 pence, after climbing as much as 5.1%. The company's US drinks unit may be bid for by two competing private equity groups, with Canada's Cott possibly also involved, the Daily Telegraph reported, citing people close to the situation. The price of the subsidiary, which owns brands such as Dr Pepper, 7Up and Snapple, would be about �8bn ( 11.7bn), the newspaper said.

Legrand, the world's biggest maker of switches and plugs for homes and of"ces, jumped 5.6% to 27.5 euros. ABB of Switzerland may bid for the company, according to Alexandre Detroia, a sales trader at Alcis Securities in Paris.

British Airways declined 3.5% to 484 pence after Europe's thirdlargest airline reported fourthquarter net loss of �128m ( 187m) after a labour dispute disrupted flights and trans-Atlantic traffic declined. The loss was wider than the �67.5m median estimate of nine analysts' surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest airline, lost 1.3% to 35.78.

Deutsche Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest airline, declined 1.6% to 20.90. European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co, the region's biggest aerospace company, rose 2.8% to 23.37.

Dubai International's chief executive Sameer al-Ansari said the company was 'actively' doing due diligence on EADS.

Bayer, which makes coatings and high-performance plastic at its material science unit, rallied 3.6% to 51.25.

Milestones

America's communications regulator approved the iPhone last week for sale in the US. It means Apple is on track to release the widely-anticipated device, which will combine a mobile phone, PDA and iPod music player in the US in late June.

Numbers

DUBLIN ISEQ 9,667.92 Up 0.87% on week .
EUROPE DJ Stoxx 50 3,916.56 Up 0.79% on week .
LONDON FTSE 100 6,640.9 Up 1.15% on week .
NEW YORK DOW 13,556.53 Up 1.73% Nasdaq 2,558.45 Down 0.15% Equity movers

IRISH SHARES
GAINERS Company closing % Thirdforce 0.28 27.27% Providence Resources 0.08 6.67% Smur"tt Kappa 20.80 6.12% Kingspan Group 21.11 5.84% Elan Corp 11.72 5.05% C&C Group 12.53 4.59% Glencar Mining 0.18 4.05%

LOSERS Company closing % Fyffes 0.98 7.55% Ryanair Holdings 5.30 5.19% Petroceltic 0.21 4.78% Icon 34.15 4.34% Datalex 0.95 4.04% Independent N&M 3.66 3.94% Horizon 1.06 3.64%

INTERNATIONAL
GAINERS Company closing % Nokia 20.00 8.99% KBC Groep 106.24 6.42% Marathon Oil $114.10 6.26% Siemens 92.39 5.86% Standard Life 349.5 p 4.95% China Mobile 74.45p 4.93% BSkyB 653.50p 4.39%

LOSERS Company closing % Amgen Inc $54.04 4.04% Lehman Bros $72.66 3.54% Unilever 159.10p 3.05% BT Group 309.75p 2.67% Hewlett Packard $44.81 2.03% Debenhams 145.75 % The week ahead

MONDAY UK money supply and mortgage lending figures; Right Move house prices from UK BP trading statement Results: Campbell Soup, Britvic, Universal, Cardpoint
TUESDAY Paddy Power and FBD AGMs US weekly retail Sales, ABC consumer confidence and manufacturing indices French current account and Euroland GDP Results: Excel Maritime Carriers, Dairy Crest, Mens Wearhouse, Reinshaw Holdings
WEDNESDAY Glaxosmithkline AGM in UK UK BOE minutes published UK mortgage applications Euroland industrial orders Enterprise Ireland commercialisation conference, Dublin US Federal Reserve's Lacker speaks on inflation Results: Abercrombie & Filch, Mitchells & Butlers, Bodycote International
THURSDAY Irish wholesale prices m/m and y/y Irish public sector employment and earnings (Q4) Kingspan shareholder meeting UK CBI industrial trends survey Elan AGM in UK US money supply, durable goods index, jobless claims and new home sales GDP governing council meeting OECD economic outlook Results: Foot Locker, Gap, Timberland, Experian
FRIDAY Irish trade balance and private car licences UK government spending, GDP and service index US existing home sales Japanese consumer price index Smurfit Kappa trading update Results: 3d Systems, Manhattan Scientifics

The week that was

EXCHANGING PLACES: Bertie Ahern may not be his friend but Padraic O'Connor (below) certainly has supporters at the Irish Stock Exchange.

The former managing director of NCB Stockbrokers was appointed chairman of the exchange at its annual meeting last Friday. O'Connor is probably best known outside financial circles as one of the benefactors who gave Ahern an IR�22,500 'dig-out' in 1993. He has subsequently said that he never intended to make a personal donation to Ahern.

CASH AND CARRY: Shareholders at retail giant Musgrave, which owns the Supervalu and Centra franchises, got a bumper windfall after the company announced pre-tax profits of 8.1m. The shareholders, members of the Musgrave family and managers, received dividends of 15.5m between then. The company has also announced that its plans to open at least 40 new Centra stores in Ireland this year.

C&C'S FIZZ FLATTENS: Drinks group C&C has eschewed soft drinks and whole-heartedly embraced alcohol in its quest for international growth.

The company sold its non-alcoholic drinks division, which includes such iconic Irish brands as Ballygowan, Club Orange and Cidona, to Britvic for 249m. The move provoked a backlash with some observers, who noted darkly that sales of Ballygowan's "pure Irish water" would now be benefitting a British company.

SLOT (AND SEAT) SALE: Ryanair tried to pull both its sales and its planned takeover of Aer Lingus out of a stall last week with a set of special offers. Firstly, it offered to sell some of Aer Lingus's aircraft landing slots at Heathrow and Dublin at a knockdown price in a bid to win European Commission approval for its bid for the former state carrier. Secondly, it offered free seats to its customers in a bid to up its load factors amid soft trading conditions. It's unclear, however, whether either offer will have their desired effect.

SHOPPERS BOGART THE KATE MOSS COLLECTION The model's Topshop range racked up some 4.5m in its first week . . . also launching in ritzy New York deprartment store, Barneys . . .

almost exactly the amount the chain paid to Moss to design the collection.

Topshop's Philip Green was so impressed with the result he announced the retailer would open three outlets in Manhattan. What will she spend the money on?

INFLATIONARY PRESSURE: Irish businesspeople may be concerned about 5.1% inflation but that is nothing compared with the rate in Zimbabwe, which hit 3,731.9% last week. The rate had doubled since the previous month, driven by higher food and energy costs.

Economists have blamed the state's economic crisis on corruption, mismanagement and the policies of President Robert Mugabe (below).

Mugabe, however, has said that it was down to foreign governments trying to sabotage its economy.