Spurred on by the early surge on Wall Street, Frankfurt produced a powerful late run, the Xetra DAX index ending 306.04, or 4.7 per cent higher, at 6,780.96, its best single-session gain since March last year.
The upturn took in a dramatic rebound for technology-related stocks in spite of the overnight profits warning from US techs leader, Lucent Technologies.
SAP shot ahead by 18.5 per cent or €100 to €640 following an upbeat trading statement from the software leader. Deutsche Telekom gained €3.74 at €64.74, while Mannesmann rose €14.90 to €225.
Banks built on recent gains. Deutsche Bank rose €2.50 to €84.74, Dresdner Bank gained €3.16, or 5.8 per cent, to €57.50 and Commerzbank advanced €1.15 to €36.55.
Cyclical shares were in demand, with Bayer gaining €1.84 at €45.99 and BASF €1.97 at €50. Volkswagen gained €1.50 to €53.50 and DaimlerChrysler €1.70 to €73.
Paris rose 89.50 to 5,539.61 on the CAC-40 index following a strong rebound for a number of technology leaders.
Cap Gemini rose €10.80 to €226 and Thomson-CSF €1.89, or 5.7 per cent, to €35.05, while Lagardere gained €2.45 at €55.20. Index heavyweights France Telecom and Carrefour were also well bid, adding €3.50 to €119.5 and €7 to €168 respectively.
Amsterdam pushed higher on advances of more than 5 per cent by Royal Dutch and Philips. The AEX index ended 20.65 higher at 644.86. Oil giant Royal Dutch was the object of determined buying, rising €3.10 to €61.47 in 12.5 million shares traded, while electronics leader Philips rose €7 to €131.85.
Financials also rallied. ABN Amro added 26 cents at €22.59 and Aegon €1.80 at €90.10. ING gained €1.13 at €58.73.
The search for recent weak performers saw investors focus on foods group Wessanen, which jumped 7 per cent or 70 cents to €10.70.
Zurich was higher as investors, switching out of technology shares, continued to pump cash into defensive blue-chips. The SMI index, under pressure earlier in the week, closed with a gain of 167.4 at 7,448.0.
Nestle was in demand, adding SFr57 to SFr2,953 on the back of several recent recommendations.
Pharmaceuticals also profited from the switch to defensive stocks. Novartis jumped SFr57 to SFr2,323, while Roche certificates shot SFr1,010 higher to SFr18,850 as expectations were heightened ahead of fourth-quarter and full-year 1999 sales figures, expected next week.
Milan extended early gains on the back of Wall Street's strong start and the Mibtel index put on 903, or 3.4 per cent, to 27,342.
A strong recovery was seen in telecoms and Internet-related stocks, hard hit earlier in the week, but volumes were thin after Thursday's public holiday.
