(Updating with full report)
AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - Shares in Amsterdam closed higher, as property stocks gained on positive sector sentiment following an upgrade at French-peer Klepierre by UBS, and as Wall Street started the week's trading in the black.
The AEX closed 5.64 points or 1.07 pct higher at 531.00, after trading in the range 522.32-531.75.
Government bonds traded broadly lower, while the euro stood at 1.3584 usd versus 1.3610 usd late yesterday.
Unibail-Rodamco led blue-chip gainers, adding 4.30 pct to 185.40 eur, while midcap peer Wereldhave put on 2.64 pct to 89.14 eur and Corio gained 1.14 pct to 57.43 eur, boosted by a UBS upgrade on French-peer Klepierre this morning.
Retailer Ahold rose 3.06 pct to 10.01 eur, with over 21 mln shares changing hands, as the company began its 1 bln eur share buyback programme.
Corporate Express gained 2.78 pct to 8.50 eur, while oil giant Shell added 2.63 pct to 29.07 eur. UBS upgraded its stance on the issue to 'buy' from 'neutral' on valuation grounds, with an unchanged target price of 2,300 pence. Shell also said it signed a binding agreement to supply liquefied natural gas from the giant Gorgon field in Australia to PetroChina International Co Ltd.
Fortis added 1.82 pct to 27.35 eur. Earlier, reports suggested the RBS-led consortium -- which includes Fortis -- could invoke a material adverse change (MAC) clause to reduce the price of its 70 bln eur offer for ABN Amro if the markets continue their current downturn, the Times said, without citing sources.
Among staffing stocks, Vedior progressed 1.37 pct to 17.02 eur and Randstad gained 0.51 pct to 41.23 eur, shrugging off earlier losses, after Dutch staffing association ABU released a disappointing set of growth numbers in the Dutch temp staffing sector for the 4-week period to mid-August. Midcap peer USG People closed 0.34 pct lower at 23.27 eur.
TNT added 0.48 pct to 31.36 eur on news it has acquired a 25.1 pct stake in CitiPOST Ludwigsburg GmbH & Co in Germany for an undisclosed amount. KPN closed flat at 11.74 eur. The stock was downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy' at Citigroup, which also cut its target price to 12.3 eur from 13.
At the other end of the index, SBM Offshore fell 0.85 pct to 26.93 eur, while brewer Heineken dropped 0.77 pct to 46.24, as investors shrugged off a price target upgrade at ING, focusing instead on some negative comments from the brokerage on earnings expectations, a trader said.
Mike Croall; mike.croall@thomson.com mc/gp/mc/lam COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.