LONDON - Britain's top shares added 0.1 percent as strength in miners and banks just countered weakness in energy issues, with little overall impact from a UK budget that contained few surprises. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 4.25 points at 5,677.88, having hit a fresh 21-month intra-day peak at 5,698.87 early in the session before finance minister Alastair Darling's budget.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROFIRST

EUROPE - European shares closed slightly higher, with Shire leading pharmaceuticals up as it gained from a competitor's problems, and the market shrugged off Fitch downgrading Portugal's sovereign debt.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares rose 0.01 percent to end at 1,072.54 points, a new 17-month closing high, having earlier sunk as low as 1,064.65.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROmarkets

FRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 6039 points, up 21.73 or 0.36 percent.

PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 3949.81 points, down 2.74 or 0.07 percent.

ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 6879.95 points, up 2.79 or 0.04 percent.

MILAN - The FT IT All Share index closed at 23309.37 points, up 28.06 or 0.12 percent.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:nikkei

TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei average finished 0.4 percent higher after hitting a two-month peak, but gains were limited by the yen's rise on the euro and investor reluctance to trade on concerns over Greece's fiscal woes.

The Nikkei rose 40.88 points to 10,815.03 after earlier rising one percent to 10,880.62, its highest since January 21.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:hang seng

HONG KONG - Shares in China and Hong Kong eked out small gains as upbeat results from Bank of China and unit BOC Hong Kong stoked buying interest in banking stocks.

The Hang Seng Index ended up 20.84 or 0.1 percent at 21,008.62.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:asx

SYDNEY - Australian stocks rose 0.3 percent to close at a two-month high after US stocks rallied to 18-month highs, but brokers were cautious about predicting the market would break out of its six-month range.

The S&P/ASX 200 index added 16.7 points to end at 4,891.5, its highest close since January 18.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:south africa

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar, largely driven by a wobbly euro and local stocks tracked global equities lower, with miners among the worst performers.

The All-share index closed at 2,8401.68 points, down 49.33 or 0.17 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2,195.37 points, down 24.2 or 1.09 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 22,675.39 points, down 81.6 or 0.36 percent.