LONDON, England (Reuters) -- European stocks closed higher on Friday as bid talks and an upbeat U.S. session helped the FTSEurofirst 300 index to end at its highest level in over six years.
The index closed 1.3 percent higher at 1,580.02. Britain's was up 0.7 percent, France's CAC 40 rose 1.9 percent and Germany's DAX was 1.4 percent higher.
But it was Spain's Ibex 35 index which set a record closing level of 15,080.9 points, up 1.75 percent.
Banks were the biggest gainers following a Dow Jones news agency report that French bank Societe Generale was in merger talks with Italy's largest bank, UniCredit.
Financial sources later told Reuters that Unicredit is considering making an offer for SocGen. The French bank subsequently denied it was in any merger talks with UniCredit.
SocGen shares closed up 7.7 percent but UniCredit turned negative to trade 1 percent lower.
UBS rose 3.3 percent, BNP Paribas was up 3.9 percent, and Commerzbank put on 3.6 percent.
"Some of (the market rise) is a correction on the weakness that we saw earlier in this week, some of it is supported by relatively satisfactory results in U.S. company results and European company results, but part of it and especially in the bank (sector) is clearly takeover speculation," said Luc Van Hecka, economist at KBC Securities.
Earlier this week strong economic growth figures out of China spurred fears that its rates could be raised sending jitters across financial markets and hurting stocks.
But M&A talk and a generally upbeat corporate results both in the United States and Europe meant the gloom was short-lived, dealers and analysts said.
Alliance Boots was among the top gainers, up 7.1 percent, as a $22 billion bid battle for Britain's biggest pharmacy chain broke out after private equity firms backed by millionaire businessmen vied to strike Europe's biggest leveraged buyout.
Meanwhile, engineering giant Siemens rose to near six-year highs on hopes the resignation of the company's chairman signaled the beginning of the end of a corruption saga and in anticipation of strong results next week, traders said.
Simens closed up 4.2 percent.
U.S. stocks also lent Europe support, with the Dow Jones Industrial up 0.7 percent at 12,908 on strong earnings from companies including Google Inc. and Caterpillar Inc..
"Earnings are a little better than expected in the United States after analysts had taken a knife to the numbers and overdone their downgrades," said Brewin Dolphin chief strategist Mike Lenhoff.
"What earnings are telling us is that it's a very strong global economy and Asian markets aren't terribly flustered by (the prospect of) a rate increase in China."
subsequently
その後に、その次に、その後、それ以降｛いこう｝、後で、続いて
speculation
〔不確かな情報に基づく〕推量｛すいりょう｝、推理｛すいり｝、推測｛すいそく｝、憶測｛おくそく｝、思弁｛しべん｝、空論｛くうろん｝
spurred
せき立てられた
jitter
神経質｛しんけいしつ｝、恐怖感｛きょうふかん｝
《電》ジッター
神経質｛しんけいしつ｝に振る舞う、イライラする
イライラさせる
vie
（優劣｛ゆうれつ｝を）競う、争う、競争｛きょうそう｝する、張り合う、対抗｛たいこう｝する
saga
冒険談｛ぼうけんだん｝、英雄物語｛えいゆう ものがたり｝、英雄伝｛えいゆうでん｝、武勇伝｛ぶゆうでん｝
fluster
混乱｛こんらん｝、狼狽｛ろうばい｝、動揺｛どうよう｝
混乱｛こんらん｝［狼狽｛ろうばい｝・動揺｛どうよう｝］する、慌てる
混乱｛こんらん｝［狼狽｛ろうばい｝・動揺｛どうよう｝］させる、慌てさせる