Foreign Telecom Firms Reach Multiyear Highs

Alhambra has no monopoly on telecom mania, of course.

Foreign telecommunications giants are in hot demand again, powering key markets to multiyear highs Thursday.

Their New York Stock Exchange-traded shares followed. Among the main movers:

* Britain’s Cable & Wireless (ticker symbol: CWP) surged $5.25 to $38.69 after analysts speculated it may be an acquisition target. And British Telecom (BTY) jumped $14.25 to $202.31 after a strong quarterly earnings report.

* France Telecom (FTE) rose $3.75 to $104.25 as the phone giant was reported to be considering buying a unit of Britain’s Vodafone AirTouch as part of a possible hostile bid for German mobile phone operator Mannesmann.

* Japan’s Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) gained $4.19 to $85.19 after reportedly forming a venture with Matsushita Electric to provide interactive TV shows.

* Mexico’s TelMex (TMX) climbed $3.06 to $100.94 as the phone giant proposed a 2-for-1 stock split. No date has been set.