STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Share buyback hopes fuel Infineon shares

Shares in German chip maker Infineon (Xetra: 623100 - news) are up almost 3 percent at the top of a 1.3 percent stronger European technology index, after the company's chief hints at a potential increase of its share buyback programme.

The company is sitting on a cash pile of 2 billion euros ($2.79 billion), which it plans to use principally for acquisitions but could also use for buybacks if it fails to find any suitable takeover targets, Infineon's Chief Executive Reinhard Ploss tells German newspaper Handelsblatt.

"If we can't find a suitable transaction, we intend to expand our current share buyback programme," Ploss is quoted as saying. Infineon's current share buyback programme amounts to 300 million euros by the end of 2015.

"Hope for an increased share buyback should act as a positive for Infineon," a Frankfurt-based trader says.

Infineon's shares trade at around double the volumes of the technology index, in early session trading.

($1 = 0.7181 Euros)

Reuters messaging rm://harro.tenwolde.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net