LONDON - European stock markets closed on an upbeat note Thursday as investors took heart from Wall Street, which recovered after a sluggish start, dealers said.
The London FTSE 100 index added 0.60 percent at 4,977.0 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 rose 0.24 percent to 4,389.52 points and the Paris CAC 40 climbed 0.42 percent to 4,124.37 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares gained 0.47 percent at 3,090.72 points.
The euro stood at 1.2909 dollars.
On Wall Street, indices were making a move higher as investors focused on a better-than-expected earnings report from Alcoa Inc, while ignoring problems at Wal-Mart and Pfizer.
At the London close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 36.30 points ahead at 10,522.80 while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 8.98 points at 2008.12.
The Commerce Department, meanwhile, said US wholesale inventories rose in value by 0.6 percent in February, while sales fell 0.4 percent, marking the biggest drop since April 2003.
There was also little reaction to the US Labor Department's report that first-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to 334,000 in the week ended April 2, slightly less than the decline to about 330,000 expected.
In London, oil issues were in favour as crude oil futures remained high, though just off their recent peaks of 56 dollars a barrel, as traders mulled the US Department of Energy's outlook for gasoline and oil prices and Saudi Arabia's offer to boost petroleum output.
Shell ended up 2.48 percent at 496 pence and BP rose 1.79 percent to 570.
Boots, the leading British pharmacy and beauty retailer, slipped 0.65 percent to 615.5 pence, off earlier peaks as high as 635 pence after it announced plans to sell its over-the-counter medicine business, prompting talk that the disposal will lead to a bid for the group as a whole.
However, the retailer's second profit warning in five months appeared to have offset the disposal news.
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Post was the top blue-chip gainer, rising 2.32 percent to 19.43 euros on the back of a Deutsche Bank upgrade of the stock to 'buy' from 'hold'.
The stock also gained on news of expected firm growth prospects for the company's logistics segment DHL in China. DHL said that it expected sales in China to grow by at least 35 percent and that China eventually would become DHL's biggest market.
French media group Vivendi Universal posted the sharpest gains in Paris, jumping 2.7 percent to 24.03 euros on a report it has again started discussing a merger of its Cegetel fixed-line telecom unit with French rival Neuf Telecom.
Neither company would comment on the speculation, which was welcomed by investors. "This would be very positive for Vivendi, as this tie-up would generate synergies and help fight off the competition," a trader at Global Equities said.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Swiss SMI index rose 0.36 percent to 6,023.7 points.
The Amsterdam AEX added 0.44 percent at 372.79 points, Brussels Bel-20 closed flat with a slight rise of 0.08 percent to 3,177.20, the Madrid Ibex-35 nudged 0.11 percent higher to 9,392.4 and the Milan SP/Mib jumped 1.07 percent to 32,856.0.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei-225 index fell 0.14 percent to 11,810.99 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 percent to 13,602.35.
04/07/2005 18:43 GMT