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To: donald sew who wrote (51757)	9/8/1998 6:39:00 AM
From: flickerful	Respond to of 58727

Tuesday September 8, 5:48 am Eastern Time FOCUS-Eurostocks up on Asian rally but London dips (updates with more European bourses opening) By Leonard Santorelli LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - European bourses made modest gains on Tuesday as another strong showing in Asian markets was offset by worries over the political vacuum in Russia. An early rally in London fizzled out in cautious trade without direction from Wall Street, closed on Monday for a public holiday. But Paris and Frankfurt advanced more strongly, lifted by the Asia gains. In currencies, the dollar strengthened against the yen and mark on hopes that U.S. equities would catch up with Monday's global rally when Wall Street resumed trade later on Tuesday. Hopes that U.S. interest rates have peaked following comments by U.S. Federal reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on helped to drive the dollar to a 9-1/2 month low against the mark on Monday. ------------------------------------------------------------ MARKET PRICES AT 0924 GMT MARK 1.7288/73 YEN 132.16/26 STERLING 1.6600/10 GOLD $287.40/287.90 +2.64 (pvs PM fix) BRENT $13.10 +0.04 FTSE 5321.6 -25.40 CAC 3,731.00 +35.65 X-DAX 4954.53 +8.79 ------------------------------------------------------------- Many European markets took comfort from some major Asian share markets rallying for a second straight day on Tuesday. Japan and Hong Kong finished strongly although Kuala Lumpur fell 12 percent . London, which climbed of 3.5 percent on Monday in one of its biggest ever points gains, was Europe's worst performer. Many investors were anxious about events in Russia after the Duma rejected Viktor Chernomyrdin's candidacy for prime miniester. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dipped into the minus column shortly after opening with a gain of 0.5 percent. But the more broadly-based FTSE 250 index held onto to gains of 0.5 percent after a long list of half year results from second-line companies was well received. But investors were reluctant to chase prices much higher before Wall Street joined the party. ''We're playing the waiting game, people just want to see the market steady and then wait for indications on Wall Street,'' said one dealer. ''A lot of people are not trusting the rally,'' said Elizabeth Miller at Deutsche Bank. ''Everyone is still pretty nervous.'' In Frankfurt, stocks climbed 0.4 percent on the electronic , the Xetra DAX after MAN AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: MANG.F) posted surprisingly strong earnings and the Asia bourses advanced overnight. But traders said the opening did not necessarily portend an easy upward ride. ''Today is going to be very difficult,'' one trader said. ''I think we are in a calming phase around the world, but Russia is still a significant problem.'' At least for the morning session, however, the market was inspired -- with the main impetus coming from machinery and truck maker MAN's 75 percent rise in 1997/98 group net profit. The rest of the 30-share DAX index was fairly mixed. Deutsche Bank (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: DBKG.F) firmed by as much as three percent after its chief executive told a business newspaper that it had not suffered trading losses from the Russian financial crisis. In Paris, stocks got an eraly lift by the rally in Asia and the stronger stronger dollar. The CAC-40 index was up 1.2 percent by mid-morning after a lacklustre performance on Monday. The hard-hit banking sector rebounded, with BNP up 2.01 percent, Societe Generale up 2.55 percent In currencies, the dollar was stronger on the hopes of a Wall Street rebound. Recent dollar losses have in part been based on the near 20 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from its mid-July 1998 all time high. ''The market is correcting to an extent the dollar fall, related to the Dow,'' said Fabio Freschetti, market analyst at Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. ''There is also some profit-taking on short dollar positions.'' By mid-morning the dollar had climed to 1.7305 marks from a 1.7124 mark 9-1/2 month low on Monday and versus 1.7245 marks in late European trade on Monday. Against the yen, the U.S. currency was trading at 132.23, half a yen higher the level at Monday's close in Europe. The dollar trough of 130.45 yen on Monday is the lowest since late April.