European shares closed at their highest level in nine months today as better-than-expected July US manufacturing data boosted markets.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed up 1.4 per cent at 941.93 points after touching 947.01, the highest level since early November.
The Iseq closed on 2,865.73, up 74.63 points.
Britain's FTSE 100 index closed at 4,682.46 points, its highest closing level since early October 2008. Earlier in the session, it hit a fresh intraday peak above the 4,700, its highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in October 2008.
Germany's DAX was 1.8 per cent higher and France's CAC 40 was up 1.5 per cent.
The US Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity rose to 48.9 in July from 44.8 in June. The median forecast of 72 economists surveyed by Reuters was for a reading of 46.2.
Banking stocks added the most points to the index. HSBC gained 4.9 per cent after it reported a pretax profit above analysts forecasts.
Barclays was 6.7 per cent higher, rallying after an opening fall as the British bank posted first-half reported profits which Caznove said were "in line with consensus but arguably better underlying given larger than expected loss on fair value of own debt." Among other banks UniCredit, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and UBS were up 0.1-2.7 per cent.
Commodity stocks gained as crude rose 2.8 per cent and copper rose 4.1 per cent.
Energy stocks BG Group, BP and Royal Dutch Shell were up 0.7-3.5 per cent, while miners Antofagasta, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and Xstrata gained 5.3-7.1 per cent.