FRANKFURT, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - Shares in German property financer Hypo Real Estate shot up by 27.31 percent to 6.76 euros in afternoon trading Friday after the European Commission approved a German bailout package for the bank.

The Frankfurt Dax index of leading shares was down by 0.63 percent overall in thin trading on a German national holiday.

In Brussels, the Commission praised Berlin's bailout plan as 'part of the solution' to the current financial crisis.

The German government and private banks unveiled a rescue plan on Monday for Hypo Real Estate, the future of which nonetheless remains uncertain.

Berlin is to guarantee a large part of a 35-billion-euro (49-billion-dollar) credit line drawn up to keep Hypo Real Estate in business.

The EU's executive arm concluded that 'the measures comply with EU rules on rescue aid.'

The real estate lender found itself unable to refinance operations owing to a credit crisis that grew worse after the US investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September.

It was one of several high-profile rescue operations announced in Europe since the US financial crisis took its latest turn for the worse.

On Monday, Hypo Real Estate shares had lost three-quarters of their value, and the afternoon level on Friday still represented a loss of one-half from their close a week earlier at 13.49 euros.