European shares markets rose marginally today, as advances in banks and energy stocks offset falls in car and drugmakers.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended unofficially 0.3 per cent higher at 831.25 points.
Banks and energy stocks added most points to the index. HSBC gained 6 per cent and Credit Suisse jumped 11 per cent, while BP gained 1.5 per cent and BG Group rose 4 per cent.
Rio Tinto plummeted 37 per cent after BHP Billiton abandoned its bid for the group, while Novartis lost 4 percent and GlaxoSmithKline slipped 3.3 per cent ahead of an EU report on Friday expected to criticise major European drugmakers for anti-competitive practices.
Volkswagen fell 23 per cent, continuing its recent wild counter-index moves.
The US Federal Reserve announced a plan to buy billions of dollars worth of debt and mortgage-backed securities to loosen up the flow of credit for mortgages, loans for students, cars and credit cards.
"This is another in a series of significant measures over the past few weeks - slowly but surely they're starting to stabilise sentiment," said Darren Winder, head of macro and strategy research at Cazenove.
"But fundamentally markets are bumping along the bottom with high levels of volatility, and that pattern will continue. Falls in profit haven't fully taken their course," he said.
Reuters