Closing stock market indices

Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Tuesday.
EUROPE STOCKS EXCHANGE: European shares ended mixed in subdued pre-Christmas trading as gains in luxury goods makers like LVMH were offset by concern over legal action against UBS.
Shares in the Swiss banking giant fell 1.1 percent after the company said it faced legal action for possible breaches of securities laws due its relationship with scandal-plagued US healthcare company HealthSouth.
Alma Media was among the region's biggest gainers, up 24 percent after Norway's top media group Schibsted ASA made a surprise 705 million euro ($944 million) bid for the Finnish group.
Schibsted shares shed 2.3 percent. Electrolux shares also jumped 4.5 percent as dealers cited renewed talk that the world's biggest maker of household appliances could be a take-over target for private equity firms.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips ended 0.2 percent weaker at 1,035.4 points.
FRANKFURT STOCKS EXCHANGE: The DAX index ended at 4,214.39 points, up 2.84 or 0.07 percent.
PARIS STOCKS EXCHANGE: The CAC-40 index closed at 3,770.03 points, up 5.99 or 0.16 percent.
ZURICH STOCKS EXCHANGE: The Swiss market index closed at 5,640.8 points, down 9.9 or 0.18 percent.
MILAN STOCKS EXCHANGE: The All Share Mibtel index closed at 23,254 points, up 55 or 0.24 percent.
SYDNEY STOCKS EXCHANGE: Stocks rose 0.5 percent to close above the 4,000 mark for the first time, led by miner BHP Billiton on strong prices and demand for minerals and robust corporate earnings.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index closed up 20.1 points at 4,013.6.
JOHANNESBURG STOCKS EXCHANGE: Stocks dipped in thin trade as the rand reached a 6-year high, hitting resource stocks, and iron ore miner Kumba Resources slid up to 4 percent after it lost a dispute in Australia.
The all share index sagged 7.78 or 0.06 percent to 12,450.63 points amid low turnover of around 2.4 billion rand.
The All Gold index closed at 1,617.02 points, down 34.61 or 2.10 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 9,567.76 points, up 7.53 or 0.08 percent.