Stockholm - Nordic stock markets rebounded Monday in the wake of the US government bail-out of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Banking groups including Swedbank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) surged some 10 per cent in Stockholm where the OMX Stockholm 30 Index that groups the 30 most actively traded stocks gained some 4.1 per cent in mid-morning trading.

Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux that has has a large market in the US also increased as did engineering group Atlas Copco.

In Denmark, the OMX Copenhagen index gained 3.7 per cent while in Finland the Helsinki OMX index of 25 main stocks was up 3.3 per cent.

Stockholm - A Swedish teenager was praised for accurate shooting when he shot a bear over the weekend while out on a moose hunt with his father, reports said Monday.

Filip Wikner, 15, was hunting under the supervision of his father when their dog tracked a bear near the village of Hornmyr, northern Sweden.

They subsequently spotted the bear in a thicket, Wikner told the Vasterbottens-Kuriren newspaper.

The duo had agreed that Filip would firet the initial shot, and when the bear turned its side on them he opened fire from some 20 metres.

"The bear went down immediately but got back up," Wikner said, adding that his father, seasoned bear hunter Peter Wikner, then fired a second shot.

Stockholm - Sweden's central bank Thursday raised the country's key interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 4.75 per cent in what bank chief Stefan Ingves said was a move to curb inflation.

Stockholm - Strained relations with Moscow over the recent conflict in Georgia will not affect the construction of a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to provide Russian gas directly to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday.

Speaking during a visit to Stockholm for talks with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Merkel said the approval process would be carried out in all the countries affected and brought to a conclusion.

"The pipeline is a strategic European project," Merkel said.

Stockholm - A German woman charged with beating two small children to death in Sweden in March this year should serve a life term or be confined to a closed psychiatric institution, the prosecution said Monday.

In her summing up, prosecutor Frieda Gummesson told the court in the central city of Vasteras there could be no doubt that the 32-year- old student, who comes from Hanover, was guilty of the March 17 murder.

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo said Friday it has completed a joint venture deal with Eicher Motors in India, following approval from regulatory authorities.