LONDON: European stock markets closed mostly firmer on Thursday ahead of the Easter break, consolidating sharp gains made the previous day as strong company results bolstered confidence further.
Dealers said investors believe the company results show the underlying global economy to be in good shape despite a bad news flow dominated by US and eurozone debt concerns and violent unrest across the Middle East.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed a marginal 0.07 percent lower to 6,018.30 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.43 percent to 4,021.88 points and in Frankfurt the DAX added 0.64 percent to 7,295.49 points.
Other European markets posted similar modest gains as investors wound down after a choppy week which saw very sharp losses Monday when Standard & Poor's downgraded its rating outlook on US for the first time ever.
After the initial shock, markets steadily picked up, posting very sharp gains on Wednesday as Intel, IBM and Goldman Sachs results boosted confidence.
More results Thursday, topped by Apple's forecast-topping figures made for another positive showing.
"European Indices continued to trade positively ... adding to (Wednesday's) two percent gains," said Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index traders.
"Better-than-expected US company earnings over the last few days continues to support equities across Europe.
"Intel's earnings were the kick start ... and stellar earnings from Apple have helped to cement the positive earnings sentiment over the last two trading sessions."
US earnings continued to please on Thursday as US conglomerate General Electric reported a better-than-expected profit gain of 80 percent for the first quarter to $3.36 billion.
In New York, stocks were also firmer, posting solid but more modest gains after Wednesday's 1.52 percent advance.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.26 percent at around 1600 GMT while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was 0.54 percent higher.
"The latest batch of earnings reports reads very much like the one (Wednesday)," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
"There was a glowing report from the headliner -- ie, Apple -- and there has been a litany of better-than-expected results cutting across economic sectors."
Other dealers suggested the gains might be technical ahead of the Easter break.
"Typically, the stock market rallies ahead of a long weekend as traders often move to cover some short positions," said Frederic Dickson at DA Davidson & Co.
In Asian trade earlier Thursday, Tokyo gained 0.82 percent, Hong Kong rose 1.01 percent, Shanghai added 0.65 percent and Sydney was up 1.13 percent.
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