Ahold, BT lift European stocks but week ends down

Retailer Ahold and UK telecom group BT helped European shares end a down week on a steady note yesterday, but investors still yearn for a catalyst to lift bourses above their month-old trading range.

"We need better fundamentals, especially higher consumer confidence and spending, lower unemployment, and capital spending going up," said Lex Werkheim of Eureffect asset management in Amsterdam.

"The market has got ahead of itself." Media was a drag after US advertising group Interpublic posted a net quarterly loss and sent European peers such as WPP and Havas lower.

Debt-throttled heavy engineering group Alstom also weighed, sinking 11.3 per cent to 2.83 euros after Merrill Lynch investment bank reiterated a "sell" rating on the firm, whose earnings next week are set to make grim reading.

By 1530 GMT, with only Frankfurt still trading, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index was up 0.9 per cent at 813 points, with advancing issues outpacing decliners by two-to-one in moderate volume.

For the week, the pan-European blue-chip benchmark was down 1.2 per cent.

The index is up 19 per cent from a six-year low in March, but has hit a wall of investor doubt over the economy's ability to nurse companies back to health as the euro gallops higher and central banks show reluctance to cut interest rates.