European stocks rose, paced by construction companies Cie. de Saint-Gobain and Hanson Plc after a proposal to limit a trust fund for asbestos victims got U.S. Senate approval. ``This has got to be good news, there's no longer a black hole on claims,'' said Calvin Vaudin, a fund manager at Ashburton Ltd. in Jersey, Channel Islands, which manages the equivalent of $1.8 billion. ``It's established a line in the sand.'' The Dow Jones Stoxx 50 Index rose 0.3 percent to 2691.71 as of 9:26 a.m. in London. The Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 12 countries using the euro, gained 0.3 percent. The Stoxx 600 added 0.3 percent, with the construction and auto-maker groups the biggest gainers.
Saint-Gobain, which made the glass for the pyramids at the Louvre Museum, advanced 1.9 percent to 42.87 euros. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle accepted a Republican proposal limiting a trust fund for asbestos victims to $140 billion to break a deadlock that has stalled the legislation in Congress. The plan would end lawsuits that have bankrupted more than 70 U.S. companies. Saint-Gobain booked a charge of 50 million euros from asbestos in the first half. It had 106,000 claims in the U.S. at the end of the six-month period, the company said in July. Benchmarks rose in 15 of the 17 Western European markets that were open. Germany's DAX Index added 0.6 percent. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index gained 0.3 percent and France's CAC 40 Index advanced 0.3 percent. Iceland's market opens at 11 a.m. September futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.1 percent to 2782.
Hanson, Richemont
Hanson, whose bricks were used to build the Channel Tunnel, climbed 2.7 percent to 398.25 pence. The company took a 19.2 million-pound charge in the first half against asbestos liabilities. Another 11,700 claims were received in the period and 3,500 were settled, the company said in July. Richemont, the maker of Cartier watches and Mont Blanc pens, advanced 3.6 percent to 34.80 Swiss francs after saying sales rose 15 percent in the five months through August as U.S. and Asian demand recovered for its watch and jewelry brands. Nokia, the world's biggest maker of handsets, added 0.4 percent to 11.20 euros. The stock was raised to ``neutral'' from ``underperform'' by Credit Suisse First Boston, which cited ``increased conviction of Nokia's scale advantage.''
Havas SA, the world's sixth-largest owner of advertising companies, shed 3.1 percent to 4.12 euros after saying it plans a capital increase of 400 million euros ($486.5 million), subject to regulatory approval, to repay 2006 convertible bonds. The company posted a first-half net income of 14 million euros, compared with a year-earlier loss of 58 million euros, after cutting costs by closing units as part of a reorganization. The median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was for profit of 14.1 million euros.
Oil Rises
Crude-oil futures rose in New York on concern that U.S. inventories may fall for an eighth week after Hurricane Ivan forced tanker owners to delay deliveries and producers to shut platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Crude oil for October delivery rose 57 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $44.15 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has risen 3.1 percent this week. In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.8 percent to 10,231.36, the steepest drop since Aug. 12, after Coca- Cola Co. and Xilinx Inc. said sales or earnings will miss estimates. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 0.7 percent to 1120.37 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1 percent to 1896.52. ///www.bloomberg.com