LONDON (AP) - Surprisingly strong US retail sales figures helped shore up sentiment in stock markets yesterday despite ongoing uncertainty about whether Ireland will end up having to tap an EU rescue fund as it tries to get a handle on its escalating debt crisis.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 23.54 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,820.41 while the CAC-40 in France rose 33.12 points, or 0.9 percent, to 3,864.24. Germany's DAX ended 55.56 points, or 0.8 percent, higher at 6,790.17.

Expectations it will soon have no choice has helped Irish government bonds to rally and supported stocks in Dublin - the country's main ISEQ index was up 0.6 percent with an hour to go of yesterday's session.

By late afternoon London time, the single currency was down 0.8 percent on the day at $1.3605.

Aside from Ireland, investors will be keeping a close watch on developments elsewhere in Greece and Portugal, whose governments are due to present their budgets for 2011 this week.

Greece was in the spotlight again yesterday after the EU's statistics office Eurostat revealed that the 2009 budget deficit was nearly two percentage points higher than previously predicted at 15.4 percent of gross domestic product.

More important to investors was the fact that Greece's governing Socialists emerged the winner of local government elections despite the big austerity measures it is pursuing.

Earlier in Asia, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained one percent to 3,014.41 after tumbling more than five percent on Friday on expectations Beijing will raise interest rates.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.8 percent, South Korea's Kospi gained less than 0.1 percent to and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.1 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.1 percent to 9,827.51 as the yen continued to weaken to the relief of the country's major exporters. Sentiment was also buoyed by the news that the Japanese economy grew by an annualised 3.9 percent in the third quarter of the year, more than double the previous quarter's 1.8 percent and way ahead of analysts' expectations for a 2.6 percent increase.

By late afternoon London time, the dollar was 0.5 percent higher on the day at 82.86 yen.

Benchmark oil for December delivery was up 16 cents at $85.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $2.93, or 3.3 percent, to settle at $84.88 on Friday.