A visitor exits the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSE) headquarters (file). Europe’s main stock markets ended the trading session higher yesterday, gaining strength from mostly upbeat company earnings and bright economic data.

AFP/London

Europe’s main stock markets ended the trading session higher yesterday, gaining strength from mostly upbeat company earnings and bright economic data, analysts said.

However, British bank Barclays saw a deep dent in its share price after it shocked the market by announcing a bigger-than-expected rights issue.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies finished the day up 0.16% to 6,570.95 points, while Frankfurt’s Dax 30 rose 0.15% to land at 8,271.02 points.

In Paris, the Cac 40 added 0.45% to close at 3,986.61 points.

The euro inched slightly higher to $1.3266 from $1.3264 in New York late on Monday and the dollar rose to ¥98.02 from ¥97.89.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold eased to $1,324.15 an ounce from $1,329.75 on Monday.

European business and consumer confidence edged up again in July, as other indicators also show improvement after months in the doldrums, official data signalled.

In another boost to the outlook, German consumer confidence continued to climb this month with growing expectations for economic growth and pay, a poll showed.

On Wall Street, sentiment was also higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13% and the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.21%, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.77%.

On the downside in London, Barclays shares closed 5.74% lower at 291.3 pence after it set out plans to raise £5.8bn ($8.9bn, €6.7bn) by offering shares at a massive discount to shareholders in order to meet demands from regulators. The rights issue will be offered at almost half price and is part of a far bigger effort to plug a vast hole of £12.8bn in the balance sheet.

Another big faller in London was BP. Its shares sank 3.41% to end at 451.45 pence.

Shares in British vehicle engineering group GKN surged 6.54% to 348.5 pence after posting a 12% surge in first-half sales, buoyed by its purchase of Volvo’s aerospace engine division.

Shares in broadcaster ITV jumped 6.3% to 167 pence following news of rising interim profits.

In Frankfurt, shares in Deutsche Bank fell by 3.91% to €34.50 in response to a halving of net profit in the second quarter.

Shares in advertising group Publicis, which had jumped on Monday on a merger with US group Omnicom, fell back to close 4.04% lower at €57 on the Paris stock exchange.

Shares in electricity group EDF surged by 7.39% on unexpectedly strong first-half profits.

Stocks in French telecom-equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent shot up by 14.41% to €1.83 after announcing earnings for the first six months of the year.