European finished up for the third straight session hitting a two-week high.

Banks were the top gainers, including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Societe Generale thanks to the reassuring results from Goldman Sachs. The technology sector benefited from US company Intel’s revenue outlook coming up better than expected. Nokia climbed, along with Infineon, STMicroelectronics and Alcatel-Lucent. Dutch chip equipment maker ASML rose after it reported an upsurge in orders. Commodity shares were in demand as crude oil prices jumped over two percent following a fall in US crude inventories and as strong company earnings lifted expectations for economic recovery. The prices of copper, aluminium, nickel and zinc also all rose.More about: CAC 40, Dow Jones

Copyright © 2012 euronews