European stock markets closed higher this evening, with gains for banks, helped by remarks from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who said US interest rates would remain at very low levels for a long time.
In London, the FTSE closed 0.5% higher at 5,343, with Lloyds up 3.4% to 52.4p. The Paris CAC edged up 0.2% to 3,716 and the Frankfurt DAX inched up 0.2% to 5,616.
But Dublin's ISEQ fell 33 points (1.1%) to end at 2,918, with Irish bank shares bucking the trend. Bank of Ireland dropped 4.4% to €1.07, while Irish Life & Permanent fell 5.7% to €2.92. AIB fell 2.9% to finish below the €1 mark at 99 cent. Aer Lingus was down 3.5% to 56 cent after saying it may have to axe more jobs if staff did not approve its cost-cutting plans.
On Wall Street, Bernanke's reassurance on low interest rates lifted sentiment, with the Dow Jones gaining 1% to 10,380 and the Nasdaq up 1.1% to 2,238. Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 1.5% to close at 10,199 while the Hang Seng index was down 0.75% to 20,468 after weaker than expected US and European data over the last few days.
