Frankfurt - Signs of confidence returning to share markets emerged Monday as stocks in Europe and Wall Street gained ground following solid rises across Asia.

By late afternoon trading, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 was up 3.7 per cent at 2349 points as an element of calm characterized share trading amid signs of an easing in the global credit crunch.

Triggered by the surge in defaults in risky US mortgages, the credit squeeze has been a key factor in unleashing the recent round of world share market turmoil.

The pickup in global shares Monday also came after a tumultuous week on stock markets and with companies around the world continuing to roll out third-quarter corporate results.

The signs of stability were repeated across Europe's leading stock markets with London rising by 3.53 per cent in late trading, Paris CAC 40 index gaining 2.75 per cent and Frankfurt's DAX edging up by 1.15 per cent. Shares in Zurich were also up 1.35 per cent.

Buoying share markets was a rally in oil stocks following a pickup in oil prices in recent days as they rebound from a 15-month low of below 70 dollars a barrel set last week.

In Paris, the winners were led by energy supplier GDF Suez, which was up 9.44 per cent in late afternoon trading. French-American telecoms supplier Alcatel-Lucent also rose 8.33 per cent to 2.04 euros.

But a sign of continuing recession worries, the French green group Veolia Environnement slumped more than 21 per cent after issuing a profit warning because the economic slowdown was hurting its businesses.

The effect of the imminent recession on environmental programs was also dragging down the share price of Suez Environnment, which slid by more than 6 per cent.

Monday's trading also followed further moves by governments around the world to mount rescue operations to shore up their financial sectors.

In Amsterdam, the bourse jumped 5.22 per cent boosted by soaring banking stocks with ING Group's shares charging ahead by almost 20 per cent after the government threw the insurance and banking house a financial lifeline over the weekend.

Indeed, this came just one day after the government announced a capital injection of euro 10 billion euros (13.4 billion dollars) for ING, the bank's shares jumped by more than 18 per cent to stand at 8.66 euros. Shares in the Fortis financial house also raced ahead by about 14 per cent.

Meanwhile in Paris, shares in Societe Generale were down 9.19 per cent on rumours that it would require an injection of capital.

Also helping to build investor confidence in New York and Europe was a solid end to Monday trading across Asia.

While Tokyo's Nikkei index rose by about 4 per cent, Hong Kong climbed more than 5 per cent with shares in Shanghai and Singapore rising by the more than 3 per cent. Stocks in Sydney were up more than 4 per cent. dpa