European markets ended higher this evening, led by financial stocks as results from Britain's Barclays met expectations, while solid results from retailer Wal-Mart lifted sentiment on Wall Street.
In London, the FTSE closed up 20 points at 5,967, with Barclays gaining almost 4% to 453p and HBOS up 3% to 659p. But Cadbury Schweppes fell by more than 5% to 579.5p after reporting a 65% drop in net profits last year. Paris and Frankfurt each gained 0.5% to 4,886 and 7,002 respectively.
In Dublin, the ISEQ ended 13 points higher at 6,544, with AIB losing some late ground to close up five cent at €13.45 ahead of results tomorrow. Food stocks were also strong, with Kerry gaining 69 cent to €19.80 and Greencore up six to €4.11. A source close to Icelandic investment firm Exista denied reports that the company had bought 8% of Greencore.
US stocks swung higher Tuesday as a robust report from Wal-Mart eased concerns that American consumers were being hit by weak housing and tight credit conditions. The Dow Jones was up 80 points at 12,429 while the Nasdaq gained 11 to 2,333. Earlier this morning, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 123 points to close at 13,758 on the back of stronger exporters and Asian banks.
