LONDON - Britain's top share index ended down as lower commodity prices hit miners and oil stocks and concerns over Greece's debt returned to haunt banks, though positive broker comment boosted food retailers. The FTSE 100 closed at 5,723.43 points, down 60.26 or 1.04 percent.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROFIRST

EUROPE - European shares fell, led by banking stocks on investor concerns over how Greece will finance its debt as talks to hammer out details of a potential aid plan began.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed down 0.7 percent at 1,096.10 points. The index which gained nearly 26 percent in 2009 is only up 4.8 percent this year.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROmarkets

FRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 6,230.38 points, down 33.85 or 0.54 percent.

PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 3,977.67 points, down 48.98 or 1.22 percent.

ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 6,814.71 points, down 27.2 or 0.4 percent.

MILAN - The FT IT All Share index closed at 23,586.89 points, down 209.79 or 0.88 percent.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:nikkei

TOKYO - The Nikkei average climbed 1.74 percent, with chip-related shares such as Toshiba Corp. gaining after Apple's results beat expectations and its shares shot to a lifetime high. The index logged its biggest one-day percentage gain in more than a month and closed up 189.37 points at 11,090.05.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:hang seng

HONG KONG - The market erased earlier gains to end in the red, dragged by the weakness in China Mobile and Chinese banks. The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended down 0.52 percent or 112.45 points to 21,510.93. Turnover was slightly up at HK$68.7 billion ($8.8 billion), versus HK$62.7 billion on Tuesday.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:asx

SYDNEY - Shares rose 0.58 percent, in line with gains in Asian markets, as solid US profit results bolstered views that the global recovery is picking up speed. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 28.5 points at 4,954.3, adding to a rise of 10.7 points on Tuesday.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:south africa

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's rand pulled back against the dollar after strong gains overnight, while stocks also edged lower after the previous session's rally, dragged lower by miners and retailers. The All-share index closed at 28,938.78 points, down 73.68 or 0.25 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2,270.74 points, down 5.51 or 0.24 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 22,632.5 points, up 40.2 or 0.18 percent.