European share markets rise

Europe's stock markets have advanced for the third day running on upbeat corporate results and a call by the head of the Boston Fed for the US Federal Reserve to launch an open-ended bond-buying program.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies added 0.56 per cent to close Tuesday at 5,841.24 points even as charges against Standard Chartered bank weighed heavily on its shares.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.71 per cent to 6,967.95 points and Paris's CAC 40 climbed 1.52 per cent to 3,453.28. Madrid rose 2.23 per cent and Milan added 2.19 per cent.

After showing a gain of 3.0 per cent in afternoon trading, Lisbon closed 2.76 per cent higher at 4,847.80 points.

In foreign exchange trade, the European single currency rose to $US1.2422 from $US1.2399 late in New York on Monday.

In London, the emerging markets bank Standard Chartered topped the fallers board however, after US regulators accused the lender of hiding $US250 billion ($A237 billion) in transactions with Iranian banks, plunging the banking sector into fresh crisis.

The London-based lender saw its share price collapse 16.76 per cent to stand at 1,223.57 pence, having been down by one quarter at one point.

New York regulators have branded Standard Chartered a "rogue institution" and threatened it with fines and the suspension of its licence.

The Department of Financial Services (DFS) said the London-based giant systematically disguised foreign exchange deals with Iran that potentially opened the US banking system to terrorists and criminals.

Standard Chartered snapped back, saying that it "strongly rejects ... the portrayal of facts as set out" by the DFS.

European shares were supported, however, by solid results in the financial sector, with Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, saying it would raise its profit forecast for 2012 after a better-than-expected second quarter.

In New York, US stocks also traded with solid gains in midday deals, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.65 per cent at 13,203.11 points.

The tech-rich Nasdaq gained 1.17 per cent at 3,024.93, while the S&P 500-stock index rose 0.83 per cent to 1,405.75.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said the Fed should launch an aggressive open-ended bond-buying program to boost the economy until unemployment begins falling again.

Rosengren is a non-voting member of the Fed's policy-setting committee.

Asian markets mostly rose in earlier trade on Tuesday amid growing hopes that the European Central Bank would soon restart its sovereign bond-buying scheme, but gains were capped by profit-taking after recent gains.

Hong Kong finished 0.37 per cent higher, Shanghai increased by 0.13 per cent, Sydney climbed 0.45 per cent and Tokyo rose 0.88 per cent, while Seoul closed flat.

On sovereign debt markets, Italian 10-year debt traded at 5.882 per cent, down from 6.004 per cent at the close on Monday.

But the yield on Spanish 10-year debt rose to 6.867 per cent from 6.738 per cent.

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