European shares closed over 1 percent higher at a 4-1/2 year peak on Friday, with steel stocks soaring after Mittal Steel launched an unsolicited 18.6 billion euro offer for rival Arcelor, Reuters reported. Heavyweight oil stocks such as BP added to the bullish mood, rising strongly as crude prices leapt 2 percent to $67.50 a barrel on supply security fears in Iran and Nigeria. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed up 1.2 percent at 1,319.67 points, its highest close since August 2001. Germany's DAX closed 1.8 percent higher, France's CAC 40 added 1.6 percent, and Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 1.1 percent to its highest close since June 2001. Spain's IBEX rose 1.2 percent to its highest since October 2000. Arcelor, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, leapt 28 percent to 28.54 euros following the $23 billion bid from its larger rival Mittal. "People didn't look at this happening because Mittal is a quasi Asian-U.S. stock, so European analysts have not been concentrating on it. But it is not totally unexpected," said Bertie Thomson at Aberdeen Asset Management. Amsterdam-listed shares in Mittal, which is 88 percent owned by founder Lakshmi Mittal and family, rose 6 percent. Arcelor said its board would meet to discuss the bid, which it labelled "hostile". German peer ThyssenKrupp jumped 8 percent after Mittal said that as part of its bid it had agreed sell all the shares in Dofasco to the German steelmaker, which had lost out to Arcelor in the bidding war for the Canadian company.
