European shares rose in early trade yesterday, with the main FTSEurofirst 300 index hitting the 1,000 mark for the first time since October 2008, boosted by stronger banking and commodity stocks on global recovery hopes.
By 0845 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.9 per cent at 1,001.43 points, rising for the eighth session out of nine.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares, which is up 20 per cent so far in 2009, is still down 14 per cent from its level in mid-September 2008 before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was up 1.1 per cent, Germany's DAX rose 0.9 per cent and France's CAC 40 was 1.1 per cent higher.
"Another day in this brilliant bull market. The news around the world has been pretty good again in the last 24 hours ... with comments from Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the recession had finished," said Jim Wood Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe.
"Although the EU story that Lloyds maybe be forced to sell Halifax is probably bad for Lloyds as it would limit integration and cost cutting scope, the market has probably been expecting it ... it has already been priced in," he said.
The European Commission may force Lloyds Banking Group to sell all or part of its key Halifax subsidiary in compensation for the billions of pounds of state aid the group has received, The London Times reported.
Lloyds shares gained 2.5 per cent.
The banking sector added the most points to the index, with HSBC, Barclays and UBS up 1.4 to two per cent.
Energy stocks were higher as crude steadied at $70 a barrel. Tullow Oil gained 4.3 per cent after The Financial Times reported that the company and US producer Anadarko Petroleum were set to announce they have established a new oil frontier stretching 1,100 km along the African coast.
BG Group, Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell were up 0.4 to 1.3 per cent.
Miners rose tracking firmer metal prices. Copper gained 0.5 per cent, aluminium was up one per cent and nickel was 0.8 per cent higher.
Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, Rio Tinto and Xstrata were 2.4 to 3.6 per cent higher.
Drugmakers took the most points off the index as investors decided to switch out of defensives. Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and AstraZeneca were down 0.3 to 0.5 per cent.
Aerospace and defensive stocks were also out of favour. Zodiac Aerospace fell 6.1 per cent after the French aerospace supplier said current operating income rose less than 10 per cent in the year to August 31, below its forecast for "20 per cent-plus" growth.
Mr Bernanke said on Tuesday that the worst US recession since the Great Depression was probably over, but the recovery would be slow and it would take time to create new jobs. However, some analysts were still cautious about the extent of a recovery and warned the market could be set for further setbacks.
"Both sides of the Atlantic are saying we are now out of recession, but growth is going to be slow and anaemic," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management.