Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Thursday.
Nokia climbed 3.6 percent after the world's top cellphone maker posted robust fourth-quarter profits and said it expects to outpace handset market growth of more than 20 percent in the first quarter.
Britain's Pearson slipped 4.0 percent after Goldman Sachs downgraded it to "under-perform" from "in-line" and Lehman Brothers cut it to "underweight" from "equal". Aegis and WPP gave up about 2.5 percent each.
But, France's top drug companies Aventis and Sanofi rallied 5.2 and 3.5 percent after a report in German daily Handelsblatt said they were close to sealing a merger. Aventis reiterated it was not in any merger talks.
Also on the Paris bourse, Danone was 2.6 percent higher after a report in French magazine Challenges said that consumer products firm Unilever was interested in making a take-over offer for the French food group.
These gains helped the Paris CAC end at 3,695.6 - the best level since mid-July 2002.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips closed barely changed at 993.87 points, and down from a 17-month high of 999.17. Amid good volumes, the number of losers to gainers was roughly equal.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 20.1 points or 0.6 percent to 3,326.6.
The All-share index closed at 11001.63 points, up 89.64 or 0.82 percent.
The All Gold index closed at 2656.68 points, up 48.89 or 1.87 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 7227.05 points, up 31.56 or 0.44 percent.
On Wednesday the Hang Seng Index closed up 1.33 percent or 180.15 points to 13,750.58, hitting a fresh two-and-a-half year high.
The bellwether Straits Times index (STI) closed 1.29 percent, or 24.12 points up at a new 34-month high of 1,889.56 on Wednesday.
Dealers expect the market gauge to test the 1,900 resistance level next week on continued optimism concerning the Singapore economy and corporate profits.