Equities on both sides of the Atlantic advanced after the latest reports on US consumer confidence and house prices bolstered optimism the American recovery is on track.
The Conference Board's sentiment index climbed to 76.2 in May, the highest since February 2008. Separately, the S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities gained 10.9 per cent in the year to March, the largest 12-month increase since April 2006.
Some of that consumer confidence was reflected in better-than-expected results for Tiffany in the first three months ended April 30. Shares of the high-end jewelry retailer gained, last up 4 per cent, as total sales in the Americas region rose 6 per cent to US$408 million, while in the Asia-Pacific region total sales of US$223 million were 15 per cent higher than a year ago.
Those data helped ease concern about a potential downgrade in US Federal Reserve monetary stimulus.
"The bottom line is there's been a lot of chatter about how the market's going to respond when the Fed tapers, but home prices are rising, jobless claims are coming down, and the stock market keeps going up," James Paulsen, the Minneapolis-based chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, told Bloomberg News.