U.S. Stock Gains Spur European, Asian Markets; London Sets Record as Russian Rally Continues
Strong gains by the U.S. stock market on Tuesday helped to propel European and Asian stocks higher yesterday, pushing the Dow Jones World Stock Index up 0.43 point, or 0.22%, to 199.78.</br></br>Several European markets set highs, including London, up 0.8%; Germany, up 0.1%; the Netherlands, up 0.3%; Finland, up 1.2%; and Sweden, up 0.9%. France, which was closed Monday and Tuesday, played catch-up with the rest of Europe and jumped 2.1%, while Italy rose 0.4% and Switzerland slid 0.3%.</br></br>In Asia, Japanese stocks rose 0.8% and gave some support to other markets in the region, with Hong Kong up 3.4%, South Korea up 2.2% and Taiwan up 1.1%.</br></br>Russia continued its rally with a 3.8% rise in the wake of the financial package assembled earlier in the week by the International Monetary Fund. South Africa rose 2%.</br></br>European markets rose 0.7% as measured by the Dow Jones Stoxx Index of 665 European companies, which closed up 2.00 points at 311.57.