Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Wednesday, according to Reuters. LONDON - A renewed dose of bid talk in the drugs and bank sectors boosted AstraZeneca and Barclays but gains for the FTSE 100 index were restrained by oils which fell back with crude prices. The FTSE 100 closed at 5872.4 points, up 14.7 or 0.25 percent. EUROPE - European stocks rose to a 4-1/2 high as merger talk again lifted utilities such as Suez while U.S. core inflation in line with analysts' forecasts eased worries about higher interest rates. The benchmark FTSEurofirst index of the leading 300 European stocks ended 0.58 percent up at 1,358.14, the highest level since August 2001. FRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 5862.06 points, up 61.02 or 1.05 percent. PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 5041.6 points, up 49.67 or 1.00 percent. ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 8040.51 points, up 37.95 or 0.47 percent. MILAN - The All Share Mibtel index closed at 28973 points, up 241 or 0.84 percent. --More 21 47 Local Time 18 47 GMT
