Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks swung between gains and losses before closing higher, as rallies by Rio Tinto Group and Scania AB offset a slide in retailers and technology companies amid concern the global economy is deteriorating.

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-biggest mining company, soared 5.8 percent as gold rose to an 11-week high. Scania climbed to a two-month high after MAN AG said it had bought options giving it access to 20 percent of the voting rights on the Swedish truckmaker. Marks & Spencer Group Plc lost 1.5 percent as U.K. retailers tried to tempt shoppers with post- Christmas discounts to counter weaker consumer spending.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.2 percent to 193.46 at 4:54 p.m. in London, trimming its 2008 slump to 47 percent. The regional benchmark index has posted its biggest annual drop on record as credit-related losses and writedowns at financial firms that topped $1 trillion pushed the U.S., Europe and Japan into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II.

“We’ve touched a point of entry for the market,” Benoit de Broissia, an equity analyst at KBL Richelieu Gestion in Paris, which oversees about $5.7 billion, said in a Bloomberg television interview. “However, movements this week aren’t very significant as volume is light. We remain cautious about the first half.”

Gold advanced to a two-month high in London as escalating tensions in the Middle East increased demand for the metal as a haven. Rio Tinto surged 5.5 percent to 1,450 pence. Lonmin Plc, the third-largest platinum producer, jumped 11 percent to 953.5 pence.

Scania, U.K. Retailers

Scania gained 8 percent to 74.5 kronor, while German competitor MAN added 6.3 percent to 37.83 euros. The call options would increase MAN’s voting rights in Scania from the current 17.22 percent if exercised, the Munich-based truckmaker said Dec. 24.

Marks & Spencer fell 1.5 percent to 210 pence, extending its 2008 decline to 63 percent. The U.K.’s largest clothing retailer on Dec. 27 started discounting products from cashmere sweaters to flat-screen televisions.

British retailers are battling for customers as banks rein in lending and consumer spending slows. The economy contracted 0.6 percent in the third quarter, the most since 1990.

London house prices fell more than in any other U.K. region this year and probably will decline further in 2009 as the economy sinks deeper into a recession, property researcher Hometrack Ltd. said in a report today.

Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, lost 4.5 percent to 10.61 euros. French mobile phone sales declined by 18 percent in the first week of December compared with the year-earlier week, and by 20 percent in the second week, daily Les Echos reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 29, 2008 11:57 EST