EU stocks gain ahead of summit

In afternoon deals, Londons benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies showed a third consecutive day of gains, climbing 0.59 percent to 5,904.90 points also owing to upbeat British labour market data.Frankfurts DAX 30 grew by 0.20 percent to 7,390.88 points and in Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.32 percent to 3,512.06 points, while Madrids IBEX 35 gained 1.41 percent to 8,052.40 points amid lingering bailout speculation.The euro stabilised at $1.3128 after hitting $1.3137, the highest level since September 17, following a re-affirmation of Spains credit rating by Moodys Investors Services.Yields on Spanish bonds fell on the secondary government debt market, and Portugal raised short-term money at rates which were on the whole much lower than at recent auctions.The rate, or yield, on Spanish 10-year debt fell to 5.494 percent on the secondary market from 5.805 percent late on Tuesday.Gold prices increased to $1,747.75 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,746.50 an ounce.US stocks fell in opening trade after two days of solid gains however, dragged down by disappointing earnings from Intel and IBM.Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.34 percent, the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.05 percent, and the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 0.37 percent.Asian stock markets were boosted earlier on Wednesday by increased confidence in the eurozone after Moodys maintained Spains credit rating, while Madrid seemed to move closer to asking for a bailout.Hong Kong rose 0.99 percent, Tokyo jumped 1.21 percent, Sydney added 0.82 percent and Seoul was 0.70 percent higher.Moodys gave Spain some much-needed room on Tuesday when it held the countrys rating at Baa3, one notch above junk status, citing the European Central Banks willingness to buy government bonds to stabilise its borrowing rate.Moodys also pointed to Madrids commitment to implementing fiscal and structural reforms necessary to improve its finances as well as efforts to restructure the banking sector and strengthen the banks. However, the agency kept Spain on a negative outlook.Also, a senior Spanish official has said that Madrid was considering a request for a line of credit from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) rescue fund, the Wall Street Journal reported.French President Francois Hollande declared Wednesday an end to the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone was very close.Hollande said in an interview with Le Monde and five other European newspapers that EU leaders had established the basis for recovery with commitments made to cutting deficit and debt levels at a summit in June.