Sawt Falasteen - Stocks rally as traders track earnings, takeover talk

London continued its march towards reaching 8,000 points for the first time, while there were even stronger gains for eurozone and Asian indices.

Leading the way in London was Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered -- its share price up nearly nine percent in late morning deals.

"Standard Chartered has surged to the top of the FTSE 100 on a report from Bloomberg that First Abu Dhabi bank is considering a $35 billion offer for the British lender," said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

Also in London, shares in AstraZeneca rallied almost five percent after the pharmaceuticals giant posted rocketing annual profits.

Shares in Credit Suisse tanked, however, after Switzerland's second-biggest bank posted its biggest annual loss since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Mumbai-listed conglomerate Adani tumbled again -- this time by more than 11 percent -- after global stock index compiler MSCI said it was reviewing the status of equities in the group.

The business empire of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has lost more than $100 billion in value after US short-selling investment group Hindenburg Research accused it of artificially inflating share prices.

Disney will be a strong focus when Wall Street reopens after the entertainment giant late Wednesday said it was laying off 7,000 employees.

The job cuts follow similar moves by US tech giants dialling back from a hiring spurt during the height of the Covid pandemic.

"The market seems pleased returning chief executive officer Bob Iger is grabbing the mouse by the ears and announcing a big shake-up at Disney judging by the share price action in after-hours trading," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

- Key figures around 1200 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 7,943.25 points

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.3 percent at 15,611.17

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 7,210.80

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.4 percent at 4,266.01

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 27,584.35 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.6 percent at 21,624.36 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,270.38 (close)

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 33,949.01 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0769 from $1.0716 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2148 from $1.2071

Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.63 pence from 88.75 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 130.95 yen from 131.42 yen

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $85.24 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $78.58 per barrel

burs/bcp/rfj/rl

X.AbuJaber--SF-PST