London stock market higher before pre-budget report

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares percent rose 0.66 to 6,584.40 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 0.04 percent to 7,993.12 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 index dipped 0.04 percent to 5,826.82.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares inched up 0.01 percent to 4,436.49 points.

The euro stood at 1.4040 dollars, after hitting a record high 1.4283 dollars last week.

Britain’s finance minister Alistair Darling gives his pre-budget report and sets out future government spending on Tuesday.

Expected announcements to parliament include a crackdown on tax loopholes exploited by private equity firms, a change to death duties and more funds for overseas aid and health, British media said.

The report, which will precede the Labour government’s full annual budget announcement early next year, was due to be delivered by Darling at 1445 GMT.

The comprehensive spending review on long-term government spending will likely see projected economic growth downgraded because of the knock-on effect of the global credit squeeze after the US sub-prime mortgage sector crisis.

One British company severely affected by the credit squeeze is the bank Northern Rock. But on Tuesday its share price continued to recover amid takeover talk.

Northern Rock jumped to the top of the FTSE for a second day in a row, soaring 17.10 percent to 202.00 pence in early deals.

Britain’s fifth biggest mortgage lender, whose share price slumped 80 percent after being bailed out by the Bank of England in September, is benefiting from reports that it may be bought by a US investment fund, or lent extra billions of pounds (dollars, euros) by a private source to allow it to survive.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Japanese share prices closed up 0.56 percent as jitters about the health of the US economy eased following last week’s better-than-expected US jobs data, dealers said.

They said a softer yen also boosted exporter shares as investors returned to their desks after a long weekend.

US stocks finished mixed in quiet trade Monday with many market participants absent for the Columbus Day holiday and investors positioning for the upcoming quarterly earnings season.