Parmalat shares gain on hopes of claims success

MILAN (Reuters) - Shares in Parmalat (PLT.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) gained over 4 percent on Friday, buoyed by hopes for the dairy group's claim for 2.2 billion euros ($3.45 billion) in damages from Citigroup in a case related to Parmalat's 2003 collapse, traders said.

A New Jersey appeals court rejected a move by Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to stop some documents from being used in the case, a source close to the matter told Reuters earlier this week.

Newspapers have said Citigroup's lawyer had said if these documents were admitted, "their (Parmalat's) probability of winning the trial is substantial."

Citigroup, which has always maintained it did nothing wrong, can appeal against the ruling.

At 1253 GMT (8:53 a.m. EDT), Parmalat shares are up 3.92 percent to 1.75 euros, having hit a high of 1.757 euros, as other leading Milan shares are down 1.12 percent.

(Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi; Writing by Jo Winterbottom; Editing by Quentin Bryar)