Closing stock market indices

Major stock markets outside the United States ended on Thursday.
EUROPEAN STOCKS EXCHANGE: European equities ended lower, snapping a five-day winning streak, with concerns over tough new Basel regulations and Citigroup's equity offering getting a cool response hurting banking stocks.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed down 1.3 percent at 1,018.25 points. The index is up 58 percent since reaching a record low in early March and is up 23 percent for the year. "The factors that are worrying the markets are Citigroup offering equities at a discount in order to raise capital, concerns about the Fed and then you got the dollar rising," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank.
FRANKFURT STOCKS EXCHANGE: The DAX index ended at 5,844.44 points, down 58.99 or 1.00 percent.
PARIS STOCKS EXCHANGE: The CAC-40 index closed at 3,830.82 points, down 45 or 1.16 percent.
ZURICH STOCKS EXCHANGE: The Swiss market index closed at 6,489.23 points, down 43.09 or 0.66 percent.
MILAN STOCKS EXCHANGE: The FT IT All Share index closed at 23,085.3 points, down 203.05 or 0.87 percent.
MELBOURNE STOCKS EXCHANGE: Stocks ended barely higher after a slide in National Australia Bank following its announcement of a $12 billion bid for insurer AXA Asia Pacific wiped out most of the index's gains. The S&P/ASX 200 index finished up 0.18 percent or 8.4 points at 4,670.3.
JOHANNESBURG STOCKS EXCHANGE: South Africa's rand slipped against the dollar after the greenback surged versus most currencies, dragging gold lower, but the weaker rand cheered local export stocks, helping them edge higher. The All-share index closed at 27,130.01 points, up 31.56 or 0.12 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2,462.32 points, down 41.38 or 1.65 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 21,327.47 points, up 139.76 or 0.66 percent.