Paris - French shares made strong gains on Monday, closing on the day's high, despite weakness among banking and environmental stocks.

The Paris Bourse's CAC 40 blue-chip index ended the day up 3.56 per cent, at 3,448.51, as advancing issues outpaced fallers by better than 3 to 1.

The winners were led by energy supplier GDF Suez, which was up 12.39 per cent, to 33.03 euros, while another utility, EDF, gained 8.25 per cent, to 44.83 euros.

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.

Paris - French shares were holding on to gains in mid-afternoon trading on Monday but banking and environmental stocks continued to lose ground.

The Paris Bourse's CAC 40 blue-chip index was up 1.45 per cent, to 3,378.27, with advancing issues outpacing fallers by 3 to 1.

The winners were led by energy supplier GDF Suez, which was up 9.44 per cent, to 32.16 euros, while French-American telecommunications supplier Alcatel-Lucent rose 
8.33 per cent, to 2.04 euros.

Bangkok - Thai shares jumped nearly 6 per cent in value Monday on regional and European increases, despite fears of further political troubles.

Beijing - China's two stock market indices climbed sharply on Monday as analysts said they expected the government to introduce more measures to stimulate the economy.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, gained 43.35 points, or 2.25 per cent. to close at 1,971.01 points.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index also climbed by 3.14 percent, or 15.86 points, ending the day's trading at 520.38 points

Paris - French shares were holding on to gains in early trading Monday but banking and environmental stocks were losing ground.

The Paris Bourse's CAC 40 blue-chip index was up 1.12 per cent, to 3,367.25, at mid-morning, with advancing issues outpacing fallers by 3 to 1.

The winners were led by three energy stocks, with energy suppliers GDF Suez and EDF up by 7.32 and 5.4 per cent, respectively, and oil giant Total gaining 5.28 per cent, on rising oil prices.

Veolia Environnement was down more than 16 per cent and Suez Environnment had lost 10 per cent because the finance crisis and imminent recession were dissuading European countries from undertaking planned ecological measures.