French energy group Total denies interest in Umicore

(Reuters) - French energy group Total <TOTF.PA> denied on Friday any bid interest in Belgian materials and technology group Umicore <UMI.BR>, whose shares had briefly jumped higher on speculation of takeover interest from Total.

"We categorically deny any interest in Umicore," said a spokesperson for Total.

Umicore's shares had briefly jumped up by as much as 9.5% after an FT Alphaville report of possible bid interest from Total, but the stock then lost ground.

Umicore shares were down 0.9% by 1350 GMT.

A Umicore spokesperson said the company had no comment to make on the market rumours.

(Reporting by Pawel Goraj and Bate Felix; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)