European stocks close higher

LONDON: European stock markets closed higher on Wednesday, extending recent gains as sentiment got a boost from a solid US private sector jobs report. Dealers said investors remain confident that the underlying economic growth story remains strong enough to withstand a tumultuous backdrop of unrest in the Middle East, Japan's devastating earthquake and deep concerns on eurozone debt. They said markets welcomed the ADP payrolls firm's report that US companies added 201,000 jobs in March, a sign of steady, if not stellar, economic growth. Coming on two previous months of over-200,000 figures, ADP said the data "removes any remaining doubt that private nonfarm payroll employment accelerated heading into 2011." If the US government report due Friday backs these figures up, then markets will likely extend gains to make up all of the ground lost in this month's early reversal. In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed up 0.27 percent to 5,948.30 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.92 percent to 4,024.44 points and in Frankfurt the DAX jumped 1.77 percent to 7,057.15 percent. City Index analyst Joshua Raymond in London said the day's gains were "all  the more important as it shows investors are confident enough to add risk despite the markets entering into a data-sensitive few days." In Paris, Aurelien Hotton at SwissLife Gestion Privée said the gains came as the situation in Japan and on the oil market appeared to be stabilising.

"There is nothing then left to undercut the upwards trend we have seen over the past few days," Hotton added. Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam added 0.54 percent, Brussels rose 0.56, Madrid was flat, Milan put on 1.01 percent and Swiss stocks gained 0.68 percent. In New York, stocks were up sharply in early trade on the ADP lead and positive corporate news. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.60 percent at around 1600 GMT, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.56 percent. Andrew Fitzpatrick of Hinsdale Associates said the market got a boost from the ADP figures while concerns over Japan were easing as investors looked forward to a solid economic recovery. Earlier Wednesday, Asian stocks rose after a strong overnight performance on Wall Street, with Tokyo rebounding sharply thanks to a weaker yen despite continued caution over Japan's nuclear crisis. Tokyo gained 2.64 percent as the yen tumbled a second senior Federal Reserve official talked up the possible tightening of monetary policy. Hong Kong added 1.70 percent but Shanghai was flat while Sydney added 1.40 percent.