LONDON, Jan 8: Europe’s leading exchanges ended higher on Tuesday, driven by gains in the mining sector and a solid start to trading on Wall Street, dealers said.

French private television companies, led by TF1, were notable gainers after French President Nicholas Sarkozy proposed ending advertising on state-owned channels.

The London FTSE 100 index closed up 0.33pc at 6,356.50 points, in Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.79pc to 5,495.67 points and in Frankfurt the Dax put on 0.42pc to 7,849.99 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone shares rallied 0.28pc to 4,295.33 points.

“We’ve had some decent moves but I think the markets are just marking time ahead of the fourth-quarter (corporate) reporting season that begins in earnest next week,” said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin Securities.

US stocks edged higher on Tuesday as markets awaited an onslaught of corporate earnings and mulled reports that the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, James Cayne, was stepping down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.13 percent at 12,843.99 at 1603 GMT. The index had slumped sharply last week amid persistent economic uncertainty.

The technology-rich Nasdaq composite was up 0.64pc to 2,515.35 while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.55pc to 1,423.92.—AFP