European stocks closed higher on Tuesday with some bourses touching three- or four-year highs as SAB Miller surged after agreeing to buy South America's No.2 brewer, while Danone also shone. The ZEW indicator of German investor confidence rose to its highest level in 10 months, also supporting shares, which recovered from Monday's slip on earnings worries after Philips disappointed investors, Reuters reported. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of blue chips closed 0.46 percent higher at 1,165.9 points, below a three-year high touched last week but still up nearly 12 percent so far this year. Steel makers and banks helped Spain's Ibex 35 index close above the key level of 10,000 for first time since February 2001 and Germany's Dax added more than 1 percent to join those hitting three-year peaks. The Dax was boosted by the July ZEW figure's surge to 37.0, well above a consensus estimate of 22.0, on bullish sentiment about the global economy and a weaker euro, which was helping exporters. "The July German ZEW numbers seem to be a much better vindication of recovery expectations ahead and is bound to hearten hopes that the German economy has turned the corner," said David Brown, chief European economist at Bear Stearns. Britain's FTSE 100 underperformed continental Europe, dipping nearly 13 points as some investors took money out of UK blue chips to ready themselves for a reweighting in Royal Dutch/Shell as the shares unify.
