Trading stayed positive despite a sharp uptick in unemployment figures released on Friday that saw Ireland's jobless rate climb to a fouryear high of 4.6%.

European stocks rose for a second week after a rally in commodity prices sent indexes of mining and oil companies to records. Antofagasta and Total paced the advance.

Accor, Europe's largest hotel chain, led travel and leisure shares higher after Hilton Hotels agreed to be bought for $20bn. Phone companies and utilities showed limited gains based on concerns central banks will continue to lift interest rates.

"Commodity prices should continue to rise, " said Carsten Klude, who manages $20bn at MM Warburg & Co in Hamburg. "Stocks of raw material producers remain interesting."

Copper climbed for a second week on speculation that demand will exceed supplies amid stockpile declines and a labour dispute in Chile. In three months the metal has risen 3.7%, sending the Stoxx 600 Basic Resource Index to a record.

Crude oil for August delivery rose 2.9%, trading at a 10-month high in New York, amid fears that unrest in Nigeria will affect flows.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.9%. The Stoxx 50 increased 0.8%, and the 13-member Eurozone Stoxx 50 also advanced 0.8%.

ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said interest rates in the euro region are "still accommodative", suggesting further rises this year.

The Bank of England raised its key rate by a quarter-point to 5.75%, anticipating a risk of faster in"ation.

National benchmarks rose in all 18 western European markets except Luxembourg. Germany's DAX increased 0.5%, while France's CAC 40 added 0.8%and the FTSE 100 climbed 1.2%.

Antofagasta, owner of three copper mines in Chile, advanced 6.1%, while Xstrata, the world's largest producer gained 9.3%.

Credit Suisse raised its price estimate for copper and other metals as Chinese demand rises amid supply disruptions. Tin, zinc, lead and aluminum climbed on the London Metals Exchange.

Lonmin rallied 6.4% based on speculation the platinum producer may receive a takeover offer from Xstrata. Both mining companies declined to comment.

Tot a l , Europe's third-largest oil company, advanced 2.7%, helping lift the Stoxx 600 Oil & Gas Index to a record.

Royal Dutch Shell rallied 4% and BP climbed 1.2%. Deutsche Bank raised its recommendation on shares of the region's two largest oil producers to 'buy' from 'hold'.

Accor surged 7.5% after US rival Hilton agreed to be taken private by buyout firm Blackstone Group, fuelling speculation that other hoteliers may be targeted. Holiday Inn chain owner InterContinental Hotels Group advanced 4.3%.

"Mergers and acquisitions will keep supporting stock markets, " said Stefano Zoffoli, at Zurich's Julius Baer Asset Management, which manages around $300bn globally.

"There's still a lot of liquidity out there."

Royal KPN, the biggest Dutch telephone company, dropped 1.5%, and European power giant Electricite de France slipped 2.9%. Germany's biggest utility, E.ON, declined 1.4%.

ECB policy-makers kept borrowing costs at 4% this week.

Futures trading shows investors betting the main rate will reach 4.5% by year's end. Rising rates decrease the attractiveness of dividend yields for utilities and telecommunication companies, among the highest in the region.

Ryanair Holdings jumped 5% after the lost-cost carrier flew 18% more passengers in June. British Airways climbed 3.6% after Europe's third-largest airline reported an increase in premium traffic last month.

Michael Page International surged 13%, the best performer in the Stoxx 600 Index. The UK's second-biggest recruitment company said second-quarter earnings rose 38%, driven by demand for financial personnel.

The steepest decline was Banca Italease. Share plunged 15% after the leasing company paid 610m to unwind more than 80% of its derivative contracts with bank counterparties.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg Milestones Numbers

LIVE EARTH: 150 bands in seven shows around the globe, all to highlight the perils of climate change. But the Arctic Monkeys begged off, pointing out to Al Gore that lighting for their set alone would require enough electricity to power 10 houses for a year.

.DUBLIN ISEQ 9,451.16 Up 1.56% on week
.EUROPE DJ Stoxx 50 3,979.32 Up 0.82% on week
.LONDON FTSE 6690.10 Up 1.24% on week
.NEW YORK DOW 13,611.68 Up 1.41% Nasdaq 2,666.51 Up 2.23%

Equity movers

IRISH SHARES

GAINERS

Company closing %
Glanbia plc 4.02 1 1.67
Dragon Oil 3.30 10.74
Qualceram Shires 2.05 6.77
CPL Res plc 7.60 5.56
Datalex plc 0.84 5.00
Ryanair Hldgs 5.19 4.64
C&C Group plc 10.34 3.56
Iona Tech plc 3.91 3.16

LOSERS

Company closing %
Petroceltic Int 0.18 . . .11.50
McInerney Hldgs 2.25 . . .6.64
Siteserv Plc 0.78 . . .5.88
FBD Holdings plc 30.00 . . .5.51
AGI Therapeutics 1.75 . . .4.37
Norkom Group Ltd 2.03 . . .4.25
Aer Lingus 2.56 . . .3.95
Providence Resources 0.09 . . .3.41

INTERNATIONAL

GAINERS

Company price %
Apple $131.81 .36
Marathon Oil $62.94 5.36
Danske Bank H/S 236.75 4.76
Blackstone Group $30.95 4.14
Chevron Corp $87.66 4.18
BSkyB 663.5p 3.67
Morgan Stanley $72.90 3.48
Intel $24.68 30

LOSERS

Company price %
Vodafone 162.9p . . .2.98
Merrill Lynch $83.90 . . .2.50
Lehman Bros $74.23 . . .2.25
Fortis 30.94 1.81
Reed Elsevier 635.5p . . .1.70
Glaxosmithkline 1285p . . .1.61
Assoc Brit Foods 876.5p . . .1.30
Allianz 170.51 . . .1.23

The week ahead

MONDAY UK producer prices US consumer credit German industrial output German external trade Results: Alcoa
TUESDAY Marks & Spencer trading update UK external trade OECD 'Building the Hydrogen Economy' conference, Paris
WEDNESDAY Tullow Oil, London Stock Exchange, BSkyB trading updates Pensions Board annual report Trichet speech at EU parliament Japanese monetary policy meeting
THURSDAY Irish consumer prices, industrial production, earnings in distribution and business services US external trade ECB monthly bulletin Euroland industrial output Euroland GDP Bank of Japan monthly report Abbey trading statement Results: Kensington, M&T Bank
FRIDAY C&C AGM, Aviva trading statement, British Land AGM Irish index of Employment in Construction US retail sales US business inventories German wholesale prices The week that was

MONEY TO BURN ON ISE

THE party never stops on the Irish Stock Exchange. Equity turnover on the Dublin market breached the 100bn mark for the first half of the year, up 55% on the same period in 2006 and exceeding the growth rate recorded in a record first quarter of 2007. Daily turnover hit 814m, up from 526m, as seven new companies joined the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) and Smur"t Kappa listed on the main Iseq exchange.

Turnover was driven by 46% higher volumes of transactions, peaking on 31 May when there were more than 10,000 in a single day.

And the fun wasn't limited to equities either.

Debt security listings, which include vehicles for the pooling and resale of mortgages, credit card debt, life policies other financial products, jumped 30% in the first half of the year as Dublin continued to consolidate its position as a leading location for securitisation in the European market. Likewise the number of investment funds listed on the exchange grew by 36%, underlining a preference for Ireland as a centre for funds administration.

SUITORS CIRCLE VIRGIN

PRIVATE equity buyers started lining up last week after Virgin Media put itself up for sale, with Carlyle heading the queue and holding out a 17bn preliminary offer, including 8.9bn in debt.

Other potentially interested suitors include Providence, Cinven, KKR and Blackstone, which formed a consortium that unsuccessfully bid for the media company last year.

Market commentators speculated that Virgin Media and its bankers, Goldman Sachs, were trying to test the waters for an auction as the company has been struggling with debt, taxes and underperforming business units . . . which, of course, a private equity suitor would strip out and sell. Carlyle is said to be considering a disposal of Virgin TV, the NTL: Telewest business services division and even Virgin Mobile. Due diligence is only getting under way, however.

HOPE FOR TAX INSPECTORS

DEREK QUINLAN (right) bought himself a huge stake in the best-performing commercial real estate market in the world last week when he teamed up with Propinvest Holdings to buy Citigroup's 42-storey European headquarters at London's Canary Wharf for 1.4bn in the second-biggest property transaction in British history. The building, the secondtallest in Britain, contains 110,000 square metres of office space and produces over 66m a year in rent . . . a sum that will rise with each five-year upward-only rent review.

Quinlan Private has been the spearhead of a sort of reverse colonisation of Britain, which has seen a trend of Irish investors pouring money into UK properties and companies. Its most notable recent buys have included the Jurys Inns hotel chain for 1.17bn and a share in the 1.6bn deal for 47 Marriott hotels. Not bad for a guy who used to count other people's money.

PRAYING FOR ANOTHER APPARITION

IT took only four weeks for Flyglobespan to make a complete hash of Knock airport's aspiration to become a competitive trans-Atlantic airport.

Before the Scottish airline left a planeload of travellers stranded in the wilds of Queens, New York, for a few days last week, 31,000 brave souls had booked Knock-JFK flights until the end of October. About 6,000 had "own before the "asco and the airport has to be wondering what effect the wing-and-prayer approach of its anchor airline will have on future business .

A statement on Friday by Knock airport managing director Liam Scollan expressed regret at the inconvenience and distress caused by Flyglobespan's inability to get people back across the ocean and promised "active communication" with the airline to prevent future problems. He's meeting the airline on 12 July.

"Active" may turn out to be an understatement.