LONDON, Nov 4: Wall Street and European stock markets posted sharp gains on Tuesday as voting got underway in US presidential election, with investors hoping a new leader will provide a fresh start out of the financial crisis.

Solid gains in New York gave added impetus to European markets, which moved ahead strongly in late trade after a mixed day in Asia.

At the close in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares was up 4.42 per cent to 4,639.50 points, the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 4.62 per cent to 3,691.09 points and in Frankfurt the DAX gained 5.0 per cent to 5,278.04 points.

Gains were even more substantial elsewhere, with Madrid advancing 5.36 per cent, Milan soaring 6.86 per cent and Amsterdam up 6.05 per cent while Belgium put on 2.79 per cent and Switzerland gained 2.66 per cent.

In Asia, Tokyo jumped more than six per cent on Tuesday, boosted by a weaker yen and reports of a possible takeover of struggling electronics maker Sanyo by its bigger rival Panasonic.

Japanese investors were also playing catch-up as the Tokyo market had been closed on Monday for a public holiday.

The gains in Europe came despite negative earnings news from British retailer Marks and Spencer, banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland, German luxury car maker BMW, Swiss temp agency Adecco and Swiss Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer.

Central bankers meanwhile continued their efforts to restore stability to world markets and stop the global economy slipping into a long downturn.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) slashed its key lending rate by a bigger-than-expected 75 basis points. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are expected to follow suit on Thursday.

The RBA, which has cut rates by 2.0 percentage points since September, said the aggressive reduction was warranted given the economic climate.

“International economic data have continued to point to significant weakness in the major industrial economies, and there have been further signs that China and other parts of the developing world are slowing as well,” said RBA governor Glenn Stevens.—AFP