LONDON (AP) - World stocks mostly rose yesterday following an upbeat finish on Wall Street before the Thanksgiving break in the US, but the euro failed to get much of a boost amid concerns that Europe's debt crisis could soon embroil Portugal or, more dangerously, Spain.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 20.46 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,677.56 while Germany's DAX rose 17.92 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,841.72. The CAC-40 in France was 4.22 points, or 0.1 percent, lower at 3,743.39.

After a torrid start to the week, when worries about Europe's debt crisis became more acute following Ireland's request for a massive financial bailout and amid mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula, stocks have recovered their poise. The boost came mostly from figures on Wednesday showing a sharp drop in weekly US jobless claims and encouraging consumer confidence figures ahead of the crucial Christmas shopping season.

The US economic data confirmed that the economic recovery continues and may actually be picking up pace.

However, investors remain cautious about whether the improvement will do much to get the US unemployment rate down from near 10 percent.

That is a key priority for both the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve, which earlier this month announced that it was pumping up to $600 billion into the US economy over the coming months to help get unemployment down and prevent a dangerous bout of deflation - that is, falling prices.

Investors are also keeping a close watch on developments in east Asia following Tuesdays' exchange of artillery between North Korea and South Korea.

"Whilst Seoul may have shown restraint over recent events, there's still the uncertainty of what Pyongyang could do next to bear in mind," said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets.

Asian markets ended mostly higher earlier.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.5 percent to 10,079.76, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.1 percent to 23,054.68. South Korea's Kospi index gained 0.1 percent to 1,927.68.

Australia's S&P/ASX was up 0.2 percent at 4,593.4.

Chinese shares closed higher yesterday, tracking overseas gains, buoyed by property and oil refiners.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.3 percent to 2,898.26 while the Shenzhen Composite Index for China's smaller, second exchange edged 0.3 percent higher to 1,337.83.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 43 cents to $84.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.