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Bourses start the week well
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October 26, 1998: 1:09 p.m. ET
Strong dollar boosts stocks although there's no help from Wall Street
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Bourses began the week in positive fashion, and proved resilient, despite a lack of buyers later Monday.
All the major European bourses finished the day in positive territory. Highs reached earlier in the day on the back of a stronger dollar couldn't be sustained in the face of a lackluster Wall Street opening.
In London, the FTSE 100 posted the most modest gains. The benchmark index crept up 14.4 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 5,231.5.
Germany's Xetra DAX boasted the day's biggest percentage gain. It closed up almost 100 points, or 2.2 percent, at 4,579.64.
The Paris and Zurich markets weren't far behind.
France's CAC 40 jumped more than 1.5 percent, or 55.72 points, to 3,449.48. While the SMI in Switzerland finished the day at 6,322.3, a rise of 95.4 points, or 1.5 percent.
Ignoring more gloom in Asia, bourses opened strongly. At one point the FTSE was up more than 100 points. Those advances nearly evaporated however, hit by downbeat comments on interest rate hopes by a senior Bundesbank council official.
Good third-quarter numbers from Colt Telecom helped the stock to a 3 percent gain.
Some of that enthusiasm spilled over into other telecoms groups, and mobile group Orange ran up nearly 5 percent.
Some financial groups were strong, buoyed by reports that two major Irish financial services groups plan to merge. The news gave rise to speculation that long-awaited consolidation in the sector could now gather pace.
The brewing sector had cause to drown its sorrows, as a brokerage lowered profit estimates. Bass slid more than 4 percent and Whitbread was 1.5 percent lower.
In Paris, the auto stocks hit top gear. Renault stock jumped more than 5 percent, dragging up fellow carmaker Peugeot, and auto parts companies such as Michelin and Valeo.
The Paris market never looked like falling below Friday's closing price, on the first day of a new monthly trading account.
Pharmaceuticals group Rhone-Poulenc bounced nearly 4 percent, in advance of results due Thursday. Investors were betting that the bad news is out of the way, following last week's profit warning from Centeon, Rhone's joint venture with Germany's Hoechst.
In Germany, investors cheered the strong vote of confidence in Daimler-Benz's merger with Chrysler (C).
Volkswagen shares hogged the limelight. A 77-percent jump in nine-month profit drove the shares up nearly 10 percent.
Deutsche Telekom shares sank further, down 3 percent Monday, as investors continued to ponder the impact of new competition.
The high proportion of profits generated overseas boosted Swiss stocks. Groups such as Roche, Novartis and Nestle are beneficiaries of the dollar strengthening against the Swiss franc.
As well as looking at defensive stocks in the drugs and food sectors, investors also began hunting for bargains among some of the industrials.
Italy's Mibtel index followed its neighbors higher, but closed up 1.3 percent, before the real news of the day.
The Bank of Italy made a long-awaited reduction in borrowing rates, by a full 1.0 percentage point. The Bank, which has been under fire for not lowering rates earlier, cut the discount rate from 5 percent to 4 percent. 
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