[R]7:00PM Frankfurt, Paris; 1:00 PM New York – European markets edged higher for the sixth day in a row and major indexes are trading at high for the year for the last eleven months. German and French market indexes advanced for the fourth day in a row. Calyon, a unit of Credit Agricole SA is seeking $1.7 billion in damages from IKB Deutsche.[/R]

Industrial stocks advanced ahead of economic recovery and expectations of higher earnings. Several analysts also urged investors to increase exposures to MAN SE, ThyssenKrupp and Siemens.

Telecom stocks gained after analysts recommended sector on better than expected revenues in the second half of this year.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 20.57 or 0.42% to 4,916.80, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 28.44 or 0.78% to close at 3,680.61 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 37.74 or 0.68% to close at 5,557.09. In Zurich trading SMI increased 6.46 or 0.10% to close at 6,200.85.

Federal Statistics Office confirmed the second quarter economic growth at 0.3% as estimated on August 13. The latest quarterly growth came in after the German government increased spending 0.4% from the first quarter and private consumption increased 0.7%.

International trade contributed to the growth after the net export declined 1.2% and imports decreased 5.1%.

Gainers & Losers

Allianz SE the insurer dropped 1.2% to €78.59.

Commerzbank AG declined 0.8% to €5.97 and Deutsche Bank AG slid 1.6% to €48.78.

Daimler AG added 0.7% to €32.92 after the company plans to sell €2 billion bonds.

Gemalto NV increased 6.2% to €28.33 after the provides microprocessor personal devices reported €800 million in revenue and €74 million in operating income for the first half 2009.

IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG rose 32.4% to €1.30 after the bank said French investment bank Calyon has filed a court case in London seeking damages in excess of $1.675 billion. Calyon is a unit of Credit Agricole SA.

L’Oreal SA dropped 1.4% to €17.42 after the cosmetics maker was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Jefferies International Ltd.

Nordex AG surged 2.6% to €13.36 after the wind-turbine maker sales increased 10% to €512.5 million from €465.9 million a year ago and meeting the market expectations.

Q-Cells SE tumbled 5.1% to €10.77 after the solar company was downgraded to “neutral” from “outperform” at Credit Suisse Group AG.

Societe Generale SA slipped 0.5% to €54.21 after the bank plans to expand commodities team by 35%.

ThyssenKrupp AG the steelmaker tumbled 3.3% to €23.96 and Salzgitter AG the steelmaker lost 2.5% to €68.03.

TUI AG jumped 8.9% to €5.90 after the travel company with the largest stake in container liner Hapag Lloyd was upgraded to “overweight” from “equal-weight” at Morgan Stanley. Hapag Lloyd has asked for state guarantee for €1.2 billion.

Volkswagen AG dropped 2.2% to €145.04 after the company confirmed that the Qatar controlled fund has acquired securities that grant the fund to control 17% of the automaker.

DAX Index Movers

Volkswagen AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 2.54% followed by losses in Thyssenkrupp AG of 0.93%, in K+S AG of 0.89%, in Salzgitter AG of 0.86%, in Linde AG of 0.57%.