LON DON, April 25: Europe's main stock markets headed higher on Wednesday as investors reacted to news of a takeover battle for control of Dutch banking titan ABN Amro, dealers said.

Three European banks led by Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) opened a blockbuster takeover war for ABN Amro with a 72.0-billion euro bid, eclipsing an agreed offer from Barclays by five billion euros.

In late morning deals, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.44 per cent at 6,457.70 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.59 per cent to 7,313.29 and the Paris CAC 40 increased 0.73 per cent to 5,929.23 points.

In Dutch trade, the Amsterdam Exchanges Index jumped 0.64 per cent to 535.99 and Madrid's Ibex 35 index won 0.09 per cent to 14,591.70 points.The euro was strong at 1.3638 dollars, which was not far off its all-time high of 1.3666, following a stronger-than-expected German business survey.

Wall Street finished mixed Tuesday as positive earnings news helped offset weak reports on the housing market and consumer confidence, with the key blue-chip index flirting anew with the 13,000 level.

Japanese share prices closed in the red on Wednesday as investors fretted over the health of the US economy and the start of the domestic corporate results season, dealers said.

In Amsterdam, shares in Dutch bank ABN Amro surged 4.17 per cent to 36.46 euros.

The RBS consortium, which also comprises Dutch-Belgian group Fortis and Banco Santander of Spain, said its ABN takeover proposal was pitched at 39 euros per share, compared with Barclays' offer of 36.25 euros per share.

In London, RBS shares sank 0.55 per cent to 2,002 pence on news of the informal bid, while Barclays rose 0.84 per cent to 718.5 pence. In Madrid, Banco Santander shares added 0.45 per cent to 13.42 euros.

However, back in Amsterdam, Fortis stock slipped 1.68 per cent to 33.91 euros.

Elsewhere, other European banks were lifted by the bid news.

In Paris, Societe Generale stock soared 2.52 per cent to 152.74 euros, while Deutsche Bank added 0.73 per cent to 718.5 euros in Frankfurt.

Back in London, supermarket retailer and takeover target J Sainsbury saw its share price rocket 7.08 per cent to 567.5 pence after a key shareholder offloaded a significant stake, dealers said.

In US deals on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.27 per cent higher at 12,953.54 after hitting an all-time intraday high of 12,989.86 points.

The Nasdaq composite eked out a gain of 0.03 per cent to 2,524.54 while the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index lost 0.03 per cent to 1,480.42 points.

In Asia on Wednesday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei-225 index of leading shares fell 1.24 per cent to 17,236.16 points. Hong Kong's key Hang Seng index closed down 0.18 per cent at 20,536.78.—AFP