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LONDON - Britain's top share index snapped a three-day losing streak to close up 1.1 percent as Vodafone's forecast-beating results and a rebound in miners helped neutralise concerns over US subprime mortgages.
The FTSE 100 was 73.1 points higher at 6,640.2.ROUNDUP:EUROFIRST
A spate of strong European results, a bounce on Wall Street and fresh takeover news, this time with Barclays saying it might sweeten its agreed offer for Dutch rival ABN AMRO.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.9 percent at 1,618.33 points, snapping two days of losses.ROUNDUP:EUROmarkets
PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 6065.5 points, up 69.53 or 1.16 percent.
ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 9189.31 points, up 115.24 or 1.27 percent.
MILAN - The All Share Mibtel index closed at 33118 points, up 284 or 0.86 percent.ROUNDUP:nikkei
The Nikkei ended up 100.99 points at 18,116.57.ROUNDUP:hang seng
The Hang Seng Index closed up 174.28 points at 23,016.20.ROUNDUP:asx<.5b0>SYDNEY - Australian shares shrugged off a weak lead from Wall Street to rise 0.9 percent, as a jump in oil prices lifted energy firms while Macquarie Bank gained on an upbeat earnings outlook.
The S&P/ASX 200 index added 55.1 points to close at 6,384.2.ROUNDUP:south africa
The All-share index closed at 29621.28 points, up 198.62 or 0.68 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2738.41 points, up 9.66 or 0.35 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 20313.15 points, up 50.42 or 0.25 percent.