LONDON, Aug 8: Europe's main stock markets extended gains on Wednesday, mirroring a recovery on Wall Street after recent heavy losses for global equities. Nearing the half-way stage, London's FTSE 100 index of leading blue-chip shares rose by 0.59 per cent to 6,346.20 points.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.55 per cent to 7,554.42 points and in Paris the CAC 40 won 0.92 per cent to 5,672.09.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares increased by 0.89 per cent to 4,315.03 points. Eurpean markets had rallied on Tuesday.

The euro on Wednesday stood at $1.3768.

Major US share indices also closed higher Tuesday after the Federal Reserve announced it was leaving its benchmark interest rate at 5.25 per cent.

Trading has been volatile in recent days with indices diving on concerns about the weak US housing and mortgage markets before rocketing as investors snapped up stocks at bargain prices.

In London, insurers continued to prop up the FTSE 100, with Standard Life surging 5.83 per cent to 345 pence on a broker upgrade, dealers said.

Royal and Sun Alliance gained 3.97 per cent to 141.4 pence after reporting better-than-expected results for the first half of 2007.

In Frankfurt, the Germany chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer jumped 3.84 per cent to 53.22 euros a day after publishing consensus-beating results.

Franco-Italian semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics meanwhile soared 5.04 per cent to 12.91 euros in Paris after announcing a deal to supply 3G chipsets to Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia.

WestLB Research analyst Matthias Grossman said the deal removes uncertainty about STMicro's future.

To my understanding, there was always a fear in the market that STMicro could lose its good relationship with Nokia as regards 3G development as Texas Instruments has a comparable offering, he said.

Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.26 per cent at 13,504.30 points on Tuesday.The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended 0.56-per cent higher at 2,561.60 points and the broad-market Standard Poor's 500 index gained 0.62 per cent to 1,476.71.—AFP