January 20, 2006	Friday	Zilhaj 19, 1426

LONDON, Jan 19: Calm returned to global stock markets on Thursday, with European exchanges recouping losses as Japanese shares closed sharply higher after plunging the day before, dealers said. However, mixed earnings news on both sides of the Atlantic capped investor enthusiasm.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.55 per cent to 5,694.70 points, in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.63 per cent to 4,801.93, and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 0.58 per cent to 5,426.95 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares won 0.57 per cent to 3,590.50 points.

The euro stood at 1.2083 dollars.

European stocks had fallen heavily on Wednesday, mirroring weakness worldwide as investors reacted to ongoing concerns about crude supplies and a corporate scandal in Japan.

Japanese shares jumped higher Thursday, one day after the scandal at Internet firm Livedoor sparked a flood of selling and forced the bourse to shut early.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index surged 2.31 per cent to 15,696.28 points, reversing most of the previous day’s 2.94-per cent drop.

Hong Kong’s key Hang Seng Index closed up 1.22 per cent at 15,670.42 points.

In London trading on Thursday, shares in Shire Pharmaceuticals surged 4.13 per cent to 845.5 pence on patent news concerning its top-selling attention deficiency drug Adderall XR.

And in Zurich, Novartis sank 2.42 per cent to 70.7 Swiss francs. The Swiss healthcare giant’s record annual profits of 6.14 billion dollars (5.07 billion euros) came in just below analysts’ consensus forecasts.

The Swiss Market Index was 0.06-per cent lower at 7,730.87 points.

Over on Wall Street, shares fell for a fourth consecutive session Wednesday as disappointing earnings from tech giants Intel and Yahoo along with jitters over the Tokyo market plunge undermined sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38 per cent to 10,854.86, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 1.00 per cent to 2,279.64.

The broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 index shed 0.39 per cent to 1,277.93.

The failure of Intel and Yahoo to meet quarterly profit forecasts stoked concern that the fourth-quarter US earnings season was not living up to expectations.—AFP