LONDON, Nov 21: European stock markets advanced on Tuesday, with metal groups climbing as platinum prices soared to a record high and on news of a mammouth merger in the US mining sector.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.23 per cent to 6,219.00 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index added 0.27 per cent to 6,469.91 and in Paris the CAC 40 increased 0.44 per cent to 5,478.56 points.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares won 0.31 per cent in value to 4,108.30 points.

The euro stood at 1.2817 dollars.

Wall Street was mixed on Monday amid two big mergers in the property and mining sectors, including a record 36-billion-dollar (28-billion-euro) bid by the Blackstone Group for a leading US real estate firm, Equity Office Properties Trust.

Meanwhile a separate $25.9-billion friendly merger was announced by Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold and Phelps Dodge.

The deal comes amid a wave of consolidation sweeping the mining sector with commodity prices near record levels on strong industrial demand, especially from China, dealers said.

Miners were also lifted Tuesday after the precious metal platinum hit a record high $1,402.50 per ounce in London on aggressive fund buying.

Platinum miner Lonmin soared 3.86 per cent to 3,095 pence, Vedanta Resources jumped 1.01 per cent to 1,280 pence and Xstrata added 0.96 per cent to 2,216 pence.

In Paris, Mittal Steel saw its share price surge 1.41 per cent to 32.45 euros.

Meanwhile, shares in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) group shot 1.35 per cent higher to 22.56 euros amid reports that the aircraft maker's Airbus unit was finalising launch details for the wide-body A350 XWB plane.

In US deals on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.21 per cent at 12,316.54 points, after finishing at a record closing high of 12,342.56 on Friday.

The tech-stacked Nasdaq composite finished up 0.28 per cent at 2,452.72 while the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index shed 0.05 per cent to 1,400.50 points.

In Asia on Tuesday, Japanese share prices closed narrowly mixed Tuesday with the Nikkei index ending just off a near two-month low amid nervousness over the local economic outlook, dealers said.—AFP