1/2 yr highs in thin trade 2 London Market activity is expected to remain light next week in the run-up to the New Year. The London Stock Exchange is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Markets have a truncated session on Friday. European stocks have had a boost in recent weeks from a late burst of takeover activity this year and a strong performance on Wall Street. On Thursday, U.S. stocks rose for the third day in a row, with the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 index hitting fresh 3-1/2 year highs. On Friday, oil stocks such as Total and Shell were slightly higher. NYMEX crude prices ended steady at $44.18 a barrel on Thursday after falling three percent in the previous session. London Brent was lower on Friday. The euro stayed in the spotlight and hit record highs for the second session, boosted in thin trade by worries about the U.S. current account deficit. The euro is up more than 7 percent against the dollar so far in 2004 and has hit auto stocks. The export-led sector has been one of the worst underperformers and is flat so far this year. French car parts maker Valeo eased 0.78 percent on Friday. Shares in Dutch telecoms firm Versatel put on 0.94 percent as it said it was willing to enter into cooperation talks with its major shareholder John de Mol. --SP 0004 Local Time 2104 GMT
