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LONDON (AFP) –
World stock markets pushed higher on Wednesday on easing worries over the Greek sovereign debt crisis and in the wake of strong US trade data that sent Wall Street rallying overnight.
In European morning trading, London gained 0.54 percent, Frankfurt jumped 0.90 percent and Paris rallied 1.37 percent. Earlier, Tokyo closed up a huge 2.72 percent.
"There is a general positive buzz about markets this morning following a triple digit gain in the US," said Owen Ireland, an analyst at London-based trading house ODL Securities.
"Momentum appears to be back on to the upside, as traders gain confidence that the Greek situation can be resolved."
Sentiment has been lifted by a deal signed by the European Union that ensures Athens pays off its enormous deficit, which has weighed on stocks and the euro for several weeks.
Concerns had been mounting that Greece's public debt -- which at 12.7 percent of gross domestic product is more than four times the limit permitted by the 16-member eurozone -- would spill over into other European nations. Greece faces a particularly heavy burden on its tax base to service debt payments.
But on Tuesday, EU finance ministers told the struggling Greek government to prepare "additional measures" by March 16 to put its finances in order.
The move boosted the performance of US stocks on Tuesday, when Wall Street traders returned to work after a long-holiday weekend in the United States.
"After yesterday's bumper session... you could be fooled in to believing that the debt crisis in Europe had gone away," CMC Markets analyst James Hughes said on Wednesday.
"While that is most definitely not the case it seems the major indices have made up their mind to rally on regardless. This may leave some wary that if more information is released on Greece we could see the major indices come back down to earth with a bang," he warned.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed on Tuesday up 1.68 percent as dealers also reacted to strong US manufacturing data and a flurry of merger activity.
"The economic front is helping sentiment as a report on manufacturing activity in New York rose more than expected" and a plethora of merger and acquisition activity was headlined by a 10-billion-dollar bid in the retail property sector, said Charles Schwab & Co. analysts in a client note.
Manufacturing activity in the New York region expanded in February at a faster pace than expected, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said on Tuesday.
In Asia on Wednesday, Hong Kong shares closed up 1.31 percent, Seoul won 1.65 percent and Singapore advanced by 1.27 percent. Sydney meanwhile shot 2.19-percent higher.
"The Greek debt situation seems to have calmed down for the time being," said Nikko Cordial senior strategist Tsuyoshi Kawata.
"Market sentiment may stay fairly upbeat for the rest of this week."
