960419

Austrian shares

advance 1.08 pc

in brisk trade

VIENNA: Austrian shares advanced 1.08 percent in brisk trade on Friday to close at a 19-month high and market participants said further gains may be just around the corner.

The blue-chip ATX index closed 11.82 points up at 1,102.97 after strong demand for oil and chemicals group OMV, steel firm VA Stahl and Creditanstalt-Bankverein ordinary shares pushed it through resistance at 1,100 points.

April ATX futures, which expired on Friday, stood 9.4 points up at 1,095.2.

"Turnover was enormous ahead of the expiration", said a trader. He estimated volume at around four billion schillings, four-times the usual turnover.

"Now the ATX has broken above 1,100 points, the next target is 1,150", said another market participants.

Two ATX issues were unchanged, 12 up and five down.

VA Stahl was the day's most actively traded share, climbing 13 schillings to 368 schillings on 222,470 lots.

The steel firm's shares have rebounded 27 schillings since April 11 when they took a hit after a profit warning.

Creditanstalt ordinary shares continued their recent bull run in heavy volume, gaining 18 schillings to 734 schillings on 126,090 lots.

The Vienna bourse earlier said GF Capital, a subsidiary of U.S. General Electric Corp, denied reports it had purchased as much as 10 percent of the bank's shares over the past few weeks.

"Neither General Electric Corp nor GE Capital have bought more than five percent of Creditanstalt's share capital", bourse spokesman Michael Kremsner told Reuters.

The Austrian government has said it aims to off-load its 70 percent of Creditanstalt ordinary shares this year.

OMV shares ended at a new year high for the second straight day after Thursday's announcement the group had performed well in the first quarter. OMV closed six schillings up at 1,018.

The all-share Vienna bourse index firmed 2.48 points, or 0.59 percent, to 426.19.-Reuter