LONDON, June 30: European stock markets rose on Friday, after a powerful rally in Tokyo and overnight on Wall Street, because investors were reassured by the prospect of a pause in US interest rate rise, dealers said.

The US Federal Reserve, as expected, raised the cost of American borrowing by a quarter-point to 5.25 per cent on Thursday -- but also hinted that the central bank may now pause for breath after 17 rate increases in a row.

That soothed fears over slowing global economic growth, dealers said.

In Friday trading, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained 0.76 per cent to 5,835.50 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index jumped 1.18 per cent to 5,647.71 points and in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.99 per cent to 4,928.72 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares soared 1.11 per cent to 3,622.41 points.

The euro stood at 1.2713 dollars.

US stocks had staged a massive rally on Thursday as the market viewed a reworked Federal Reserve monetary policy statement as signaling an end soon to the two-year cycle of interest rate hikes.

Japanese share prices jumped by more than two per cent on Friday, topping 15,500 points for the first time in almost four weeks on hopes that US interest rates were close to peaking, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 was also boosted on Friday by heavyweight mining and oil stocks, which gained as a result of higher metals and crude prices and helped the index strike 5,853.20 points -- last seen on May 12.

In the mining sector, Vedanta saw its share price leap 3.07 per cent to 1,377 pence, Kazakhmys rose 2.47 per cent to 1,205 pence and Antofagasta gained 1.57 per cent to 421.25 pence.

In Frankfurt, Bayer shares surged 4.36 per cent to 35.88 euros.

The German pharmaceuticals group had late Thursday announced the sale of its diagnostics unit to the conglomerate Siemens to reduce debt and refocus its health division.

The unit is worth 4.2 billion euros ($5.3 billion), with after-tax proceeds coming to about 3.6 billion, the company said.—AFP