Europe Roundup: Panic buying

LONDON: European stock markets rose to their highest since the 2008 financial crisis yesterday, helped by signs the US economy is improving and expectations of more pledges of support for growth from major central banks.

"It's panic buying," said Nick Xanders, who heads up European equity strategy at BTIG. "At this stage everyone wants to buy it, everyone wants to get involved, and everyone is scared of underperforming."

The pan-European ESTOXX 50 had gained 0.5 per cent by 1045GMT as Frankfurt's DAX jumped one per cent and London's FTSE 100 and Paris's CAC-40 added 0.2 per cent.

"Indexes are breaking above big resistance levels and this is creating room on the upside," said Lionel Jardin, head of institutional sales at Assya Capital, in Paris. Reuters