STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK car insurers rally as price war eases

Shares in British non-life insurers rally, with Admiral Group (LSE: ADM.L - news) the top riser on the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, as data shows a multi-year decline in UK car insurance prices is slowing, traders say.

Admiral's shares rise 6 percent in volume 45 percent higher than its full-day average for the past three months, compared with FTSE volume 40 percent below the index's own average.

Car insurance prices have fallen by 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter in the last three months of 2013, compared to a 3.8 percent quarterly drop in the previous three months, an index compiled by price comparison website Confused.com and consultancy firm Towers Watson shows.

While prices are still down 12.5 percent year on year and have fallen in a fairly steady fashion since the second quarter of 2011, the pace of decline is now slowing, suggesting competitive pressure in the sector is easing.

"The car insurance price war in UK is over," a trader says.

The FTSE 350 non-life insurance sector index rise up 1.5 percent, with eSure, Direct Line and RSA Insurance Group up between 1.6 percent and 4.7 percent.

Reuters messaging rm://francesco.canepa.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net