Closing stock market indices

Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Friday.
EUROPE STOCKS EXCHANGE: A dip in oil prices and hopes of solid earnings in the mining and steel sectors helped to lift European shares to their highest close in nearly five years, offsetting Ericsson's below-forecast results.
Basic producers were the region's best performers, with miners Antofagasta and Xstrata and steelmakers ThyssenKrupp and Corus all surging between 3 and 5 percent on hopes that sustained demand for metals and steel would underpin their pricing power and boost their earnings.
BASF was another outperformer, adding nearly 3 percent amid market rumours that the German chemicals group's $4.9 billion offer for Engelhard may face competition.
FRANKFURT STOCKS EXCHANGE: The DAX index ended at 6,094.75 points, up 31.47 or 0.52 percent, up 176.18 points on the week.
PARIS STOCKS EXCHANGE: The CAC-40 index closed at 5,252.38 points, up 45.59 or 0.88 percent, a gain of 149.76 points over the week.
ZURICH STOCKS EXCHANGE: The Swiss market index closed at 8,093.47 points, up 36.49 or 0.45 percent, up 86.13 points from seven days ago.
MILAN STOCKS EXCHANGE: The All Share Mibtel index closed at 29,935 points, up 170 or 0.57 percent. The index gained 677 points since April 13.
SYDNEY STOCKS EXCHANGE: Shares lost 0.51 percent as a sharp fall in metal prices hurt sentiment on mining stocks such as BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc., after its surge to record highs earlier this week. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 26.8 points to 5,250.1, though it was still up 74.4 points over the week.
JOHANNESBURG STOCKS EXCHANGE: South African stocks edged higher as a precious metal recovery buoyed some heavily-weighted mining stocks and Netcare jumped on news it was in talks that could affect its share price.
The All-share index closed at 21,029.02 points, up 43.54 or 0.21 percent, 362.05 points higher on the week. The All Gold index closed at 2,980.26 points, up 9.72 or 0.33 percent, rising 126.14 points from a week ago, while the Industrial index closed at 14,464.36 points, up 22.79 or 0.16 percent, up 124.85 points since last Friday.