European Shares Trade Mostly Higher Led By Nike, Automakers

September 25, 2008 7:17 a.m. EST

London, UK (AHN) - Shares in European markets turned green, trading mostly higher on Thursday's early morning trading, led by automakers as oil retreated.

Investors are still awaiting U.S. Congress' decision to approve the bailout plan, which could to ease the strain on credit markets.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 gained by 0.40 percent to 265.66 on Thursday at 12:40 p.m. GMT, reducing the year-to-date losses by 26.87 percent in 2008.

At 11:40 a.m., in late morning trade session, London's FTSE 100 index was trading lower by 6.47 points or 0.13 percent at 5,089.10 points. Frankfurt's DAX was increasing by 46.34 points or 0.77 percent at 6,099.21 points.

At the same time, the CAC 40 in Paris was trading up by 34.98 points or 0.85 percent at 4,149.52 points.

Shares of Nike Inc. soared to 2.8 percent in Frankfurt trading, which added to the overall rally, after the company posted better-than-expected earnings on Thursday.

The world's biggest athletic-shoe maker reported that its fiscal first quarter net profit surged on higher sales, rising by 17 percent.

In the automaker industry, the upward trend was led by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which is the world's largest maker of luxury cars, as its shares surged by 1.8 percent as oil climbed down and dollar gained against some major currencies.

The stocks in the financial sector declined. Shares of Lloyds TBS declined by 4.5 percent, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland slipping 2.3 percent.

UBS AG, which suffered the most in the U.S. subprime contagion, dropped by 1.2 percent in Zurich, followed by Bradford & Bingley tumbling by 11 percent.

A sweet, light oil barrel for November delivery declined by as much as $1.87 or 1.8 percent to $103.86 a barrel overnight in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.