London: European stocks closed higher on Tuesday after more strong US corporate earnings and indications from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that borrowing costs will remain at record lows for some time to come. But ongoing unease about whether US markets could break through recent highs capped gains on Wall Street.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares
closed up 37.55 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 4,481.17 while
Germany's DAX rose 63.82 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 5,093.97.
The CAC-40 in France was 31.95 points, or 1 per cent, higher
at 3,302.89.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up
36.36 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 8,884.41 around midday New
York time, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was
rose a minuscule 0.12 point to 951.25.
More upbeat earnings reports from a number of big-name
companies today added to investors' recent optimism, which has
helped stocks around the world rally for the last seven
sessions.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 23:55