Europe: Shares up on stronger miners, SABMiller gains

[LONDON] European shares rose for a fourth straight session to a three-week high on Wednesday, with SABMiller gaining after a revised offer from Anheuser-Busch InBev and miners tracking a rally in prices of key industrial metals.

Shares in SABMiller rose 2.8 per cent after AB InBev, the world's biggest brewer, increased its bid for its largest rival to 42.15 pounds (S$91.11) per share in cash, valuing SABMiller at nearly 68 billion pounds.

The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index gained 3.2 per cent, the top sectoral gainer, after prices of copper , aluminium and nickel rose 0.5 to 1.2 per cent. Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were up 4.0 to 5.6 per cent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.6 per cent at 1,431.03 points by 0712 GMT after rising to 1432.26, the highest since mid-September.

REUTERS