European stocks at six-year closing high, oil firms up

European share markets set six-year closing highs yesterday, powered by gains in oil and gas firms including Total and BP, which tracked crude prices higher.

Allianz advanced 3 per cent, driven by broker upgrades after the German company said on Friday it was eyeing returning money to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.4 per cent to end at 1,550.4, its highest closing level since December 2000, but the index closed below an intra-day high of 1,552.5. It ended up for the third day in a row. US stock market indexes pared gains towards the close of European trading hours and traded flat. The Morgan Stanley index of world stock markets hit a new record high.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index is up 4.5 per cent so far this year after last year's 16 per cent rally on a surge in takeovers and strong results.

The current quarterly earnings season shows that net positive surprises from European companies are coming in at about 27 per cent, UBS strategists said in a report.