Closing stock market indices

Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Wednesday.
EUROPE: European shares fell for a second session as a 3 percent surge in oil prices and mixed US and German data added to economic worries and pushed investors towards more defensive stocks such as drugmakers. British retailers were among the worst performers, with GUS off 3 percent on a lack of a timeframe for planned demergers and after revised gross domestic product figures showed the British economy grew at its weakest rate in nearly two years in the first quarter.
But Capitalia bucked the weaker trend, surging 4 percent as Italy's fourth-largest bank by assets posted a forecast-topping 33.7 percent rise in first-quarter net profit.
FRANKFURT: The DAX index ended at 4,389.54 points, down 7.1 or 0.16 percent.
PARIS: The CAC-40 index closed at 4,100.27 points, down 1.79 or 0.04 percent.
ZURICH: The Swiss market index closed at 6,095.13 points, up 15.15 or 0.25 percent.
MILAN: The All Share Mibtel index closed at 24,148 points, up 11 or 0.05 percent.
SYDNEY: Australian shares fell, as light losses in banks and miners offset gains in News Corp after it launched a new reality TV channel and strong rises in Metcash and Foodland after they struck a take-over deal. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 10.9 points, or 0.3 percent, to end at 4,091.1.
JOHANNESBURG: Diversified miner Anglo American and Mittal Steel S.A. dragged South African stocks lower due to a stronger rand, but Gold Fields bucked the trend on merger speculation. The All-share index closed at 13,469.48 points, down 63.99 or 0.47 percent. The All Gold index closed at 1,558.3 points, up 24.17 or 1.58 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 9,973.25 points, down 66.25 or 0.66 percent.