10 Jul 2009

European shares gain after five days of decline

7:07 am on 10 July 2009

European share markets closed higher on Thursday after five days of losses as miners and banks regained lost ground.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.8% at 823.32 points.

The index is up more than 27% since early March but the rally stalled last month on concerns about the pace of global economic recovery and corporate profits.

UBS ended 2.9% and Deutsche Bank gained 4.6%. Banco Santander, Credit Suisse, HSBC and UniCredit rose between 1.4% - 2.5%.

In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4,630.07 points, up 57.42 or 1.26%.

In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,025.94 points, up 16.23 or 0.54%. The Swiss market index closed at 5,305.39 points, up 16 or 0.3%.

In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 4,158.66 points, up 18.43 or 0.45%. Earlier, the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 0.5% for a fourth month.

Other markets

In Japan, the Nikkei fell 1.4% or 129.69 points to 9,291.06 - its lowest finish since 22 May.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index finished up 69.52 points, 0.39%, at 17,790.59.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index fell 4.6 points, 0.1%, to 3,763.3. The All Ordinaries index also shed 4.6 points, 0.12%, to 3761.4 points.

In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index closed down 8 points or 0.3%, at 2741.

The dollar was trading at 62.78 US cents, 80.3 Australian cents, 39.02 pence, 58.55 yen and 0.4516 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 59.6.