Steady demand for blue chips sent Paris up to an all-time closing high. The CAC-40 index ended 47.47 ahead at 6,684.08, topping the previous peak of 6,673.52 reached in early June.
Old economy stalwarts like Michelin, LVMH and Accor were flanked by strong financials that pushed higher after the announcement of the latest US inflation data.
TMT issues were led by media group Cap Gemini, which rose €3.90 to €194, and Alcatel, where gains extended to 3.3 per cent or €2.60 at €81.65. Telecoms had a better day with France Telecom up €1 at €140.40.
Michelin, which put on 82 cents at €33.50, was said to have gained from tyre-sector switching out of Bridgestone, Japan's tyre leader embroiled in recall scares.
Luxury goods group LVMH rose 90 cents to €96.10 and L'Oreal €2.40 at €85.60. Hotels giant Accor gained 61 cents at €48.21.
Frankfurt overcame persistent selling of telecoms shares and a steep shakeout at Thyssen Krupp to rally modestly in low trading volumes.
BMW rose 89 cents to €37.54 and Volkswagen added 62 cents at €50.68. Technology leaders also met with demand. SAP added €5.89 at €271.30 and Epcos €1.55 at €94.45. Deutsche Bank gained €4.21 to €103.01 for a two-day advance of 7.3 per cent.
Deutsche Telekom stayed weak as analysts began to shade earnings forecasts for the sector in the face of spiralling mobile phone licence bids. Telekom lost €1.18 to €47.32. Mobilcom tumbled €11.05 or 8.7 per cent at €115.45.
Thyssen Krupp came off €1 or 5.6 per cent at €17.40 after the company announced plans to abandon the flotation of its steel arm.
At 5.30 p.m. German time, the Xetra DAX index was up 25.43 at 7,332.86.
Amsterdam ended with the AEX index up 2.09 at a record 689.82 thanks to strong selected blue chips.
Top financial Aegon rose 93 cents to €44.86 and retail group Ahold added 69 cents at €31.88. Philips continued to track the gains on the Nasdaq, adding a further 95 cents at €51.
Zurich picked up during the latter part of the session as Roche overcame much of a sharp fall before today's half-year results presentation. The SMI index closed with a gain of 68.3 at a high for the year of 8,318.4, up from a low of 8,239.9.
