LONDON, March 13: European stocks leaped on Thursday, reversing steep losses seen a day earlier as speculation about whether a war in Iraq is imminent triggered wild swings in share prices.

The British FTSE 100 index soared 5.2 per cent to 3,457.7 points, pulling away from a seven-and-a-half-year low plumbed the previous session when the blue-chip index had tumbled by almost five per cent.

The pan-euro zone Euro Stoxx 50 index rallied 5.3 per cent to 1,947.9 points.

The German DAX 30 index gained 4.8 per cent to 2,309.1 points and the French CAC 40 index won 5.3 per cent to 2,530.7 points.

But few analysts were hopeful that the worst was behind European stock markets and said dealers were reacting to reports and rumours over the Iraq crisis in the absence of any clear leads.

“The market is still very oversold but I can’t pretend to have any great belief that this is the turning point,” said Kevin Gardiner, equity strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston.—AFP