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Date: Friday 29 Aug 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Friday’s session saw gains across the region as banks and retailers improved.

French supermarket chain Carrefour beat first half profit forecasts with net income rising 1.2% to €750m on stronger demand in emerging markets. The shares gained 7%.

Gucci owner, PPR, saw first half profits more than double to €779m as it sold more luxury goods items and sold its YSL Beaute cosmetics unit.

Banks also posted good gains with UBS, Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas ahead, but Germany’s Commerzbank dropped on talk it is to buy Allianz's Dresdner unit.

Across the markets, the German DAX struggled to stay ahead, adding just 1 point to 6,422, Paris finished 21 to the good at 4,482, while Zurich gained 48 to 7,238.

Russian steelmaker Evraz Group saw first-half profit rise 82% to $2.04bn, benefiting from the increase in steel prices.

Merrill Lynch has downgraded Peugeot to “underweight” from “neutral” as it feels the company may have to reduce its operating profit target for 2008. Renault also hit reverse.

Elsewhere, Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia lost contact with buyers ahead of a change in a key MSCI index that may prompt some selling.

Novartis, said it will halt the development of its antibiotic Aurograb after test results failed to impress. The group will incur a writedown of $235m in the third quarter.

In economic news, inflation in the euro zone fell more than expected in August to 3.8%, while the unemployment rate stayed unchanged in July.

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