LONDON, July 12: European stock markets advanced on Wednesday, lifted by the mining and auto sectors, and in the wake of gains made by Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.30 per cent to 5,875.00 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index climbed 0.72 per cent to 5,656.17 points and the Paris CAC 40 won 0.93 per cent to 4,960.10.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased 0.63 per cent to 3,640.67 points. The euro stood at $1.2753.

US shares had bounced back from a weak start to post modest gains Tuesday with some traders saying the market had earlier overreacted to several second quarter earnings warnings.

Japanese share prices fell sharply on Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of a key Bank of Japan meeting on interest rates, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 index was supported by copper miners, which continue to rise owing to high the metal's high price.

Copper miner Kazakhmys jumped 1.77 per cent to 1,210 pence and Antofagasta won 1.68 per cent to 440 pence.On the second tier FTSE 250, British luxury goods retailer Burberry climbed 1.09 per cent to 465 pence after announcing that sales grew by 19 per cent during its first quarter.

The auto sector was the focus of attention in Frankfurt.

BMW rose 0.91 per cent to 38.94 euros after its distribution chief Michael Ganal said the German luxury car maker wanted to boost annual sales of its Mini model to 240,000 by 2008.This year, annual Mini sales are expected to decline by around 20,000 to some 180,000, Ganal told the business daily Handelsblatt.

Initially, Bayer's takeover offer for Schering, a world leader in contraceptive and fertility drugs, had been scheduled to expire at the end of June, by which time it had secured control of 88 per cent of Schering's share capital.

But Bayer extended the deadline until July 6 to allow remaining shareholder the opportunity to exchange their shares.

In New York on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.28 per cent at 11,134.77 points after rebounding from a low of 11,027.99.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq meanwhile gained 0.56pc to 2,128.86 points and the broad market Standard and Poor's 500 index won 0.41pc at 1,272.52.—AFP