Closing stock market indices

Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Wednesday.
EUROPE STOCKS EXCHANGE: A late-session stabilisation of oil prices helped European shares end mostly in the black, but food giant Nestle fell heavily amid signs record raw material prices were capping its profitability.
Nordic bank Nordea cheered investors by reporting net interest income and costs that beat analysts' expectations, sending its shares 5.2 percent higher.
The FTSE Eurotop-300 index inched 0.04 percent higher to end unofficially at 951.8 points, just 1.8 percent above Monday's 2004 intraday low of 934.72 and some 7.7 percent below a multi-month high of 1,030.86 points set at the end of April.
FRANKFURT STOCKS EXCHANGE: The DAX index ended at 3,726.5 points, up 20.77 or 0.56 percent.
PARIS STOCKS EXCHANGE: The CAC-40 index closed at 3,541.48 points, up 8.35 or 0.24 percent.
ZURICH STOCKS EXCHANGE: The Swiss market index closed at 5,325.2 points, down 53.2 or 0.99 percent.
MILAN STOCKS EXCHANGE: The All Share Mibtel index closed at 20,039 points, up 19 or 0.09 percent.
SYDNEY STOCKS EXCHANGE: Stocks eased 0.2 percent as a rebound in oil prices to record highs ignited worries about corporate earnings, while a batch of results from firms like BHP failed to light up the market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index ended down 7.1 points, or 0.2 percent, at 3,476.1.
JOHANNESBURG STOCKS EXCHANGE: Stocks closed lower on the back of profit taking and slower world markets but steel maker Iscor bucked the trend after impressive results, traders said.
The All-share index closed at 10,687.33 points, down 58.2 or 0.54 percent.
The All Gold index closed at 1,879.11 points, down 5.51 or 0.29 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 7,368.11 points, down 35.32 or 0.48 percent.