Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Tuesday.
Among major movers, Alcatel jumped 7.2 percent after a buoyant performance from its merger partner Lucent, while oil producer BP closed up after saying asset sales had boosted its results. "For the markets to move further, we need to have a significantly good third-quarter earnings season. All the figures coming out are quite good but not tremendously good," said Philipp Musil, fund manager at Constantia Privatbank. "We are positive on the market until the end of the year, and I think we're going to have a liquidity-driven rally in the next couple of months." The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares closed broadly flat at 1,450.1, below a five-year intraday high of 1,452.57 hit on Monday.