The Irish market was lifted this morning as building stocks and banks rose in early trade.
In Dublin, the Iseq rose 1.6 per cent to 3419.28, boosted by rises in CRH, AIB and Irish Life and Permanent.
CRH gained 3.1 per cent to €20.83, with other building stocks such as McInerneyHoldings and Kingspan also showing some gains.
Traders this morning said that although construction markets remain weak, the trends are improving and with some areas returning to growth, including US exterior products.
AIB rose 2.6 per cent to €1.53 and Irish Life and Permanent gained 1.5 per cent to €3.14.
European stocks rose after Adidas AG raised its earnings forecast, Volvo AB posted an unexpected profit and business confidence in Germany improved.
Adidas, the world's second-biggest sporting-goods maker, advanced 2.8 per cent and Volvo, second-largest truckmaker, soared the most in 14 months. Akzo Nobel NV climbed 5.6 per cent after posting increased earnings and receiving expressions of interest for its National Starch food additives unit.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.8 per cent to 267.48 at 9.43 am in London. The benchmark measure for European equities has declined 0.2 per cent this week, heading for its second straight weekly loss. The gauge remains 5.4 per cent higher in 2010 as the European Union agreed a $61 billion aid package to help Greece tackle the region's biggest budget deficit.
"The consensus continues to underestimate earnings growth," Graham Bishop, a European equity strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, wrote in a report sent to clients today. "Earnings revisions remain positive for each and every quarter of 2010. Sales and earnings 'beat ratios' are high."
Per-share earnings at Western European companies have topped analysts' estimates by an average of 10 per cent since the US earnings season began on April 12th, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.5 per cent today amid mounting concern that Greece's budget deficit and curbs on China's real-estate market will hurt global growth. Futures on the Standard and Poor's 500 Index expiring in June advanced 0.3 per cent before reports on durable-goods orders and home sales.
German business confidence rose to a two-year high in April as the global economic recovery boosted export demand and warmer weather allowed workers back onto construction sites. The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, increased to 101.6 from 98.2 in March.
Menawhile, the UK economy grew half as much as economists forecast in the first quarter, underscoring the recovery's fragility. Gross domestic product rose 0.2 per cent from the final three months of 2009, the Office for National Statistics said today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists was for a 0.4 per cent gain.
Adidas climbed 2.8 per cent to €44.02 as the company raised its earnings forecast for the year after profit rose for the first time in five quarters ahead of this year's football World Cup.
Volvo surged 12 per cent to 91.40 kronor, the biggest jump since February 2009. The truckmaker posted first-quarter net income of 1.68 billion kronor. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a loss of 8.25 million kronor.
Additional reporting: Bloomberg