Europe: Roars ahead

LONDON: Markets roared ahead yesterday as the positive momentum that has marked 2013 reestablished itself despite the downgrade of Britain's credit rating and uncertainty over Italian election results.

"This has a significant impact upon the strength of the eurozone going forward given the size and significant of the Italian economy," said Joshua Maloney, an analyst at Alpari.

Investors in Italy were showing few concerns, as Milan's FTSE MIB raced up 2.2 per cent to 16,592.

Elsewhere in Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.8 per cent at 6,386 while Germany's DAX surged 2.5 per cent to 7,855. The CAC-40 in France was 1.8 per cent higher at 3,775. AP