European shares opened higher today after Wall Street's powerful performance overnight on the back of a slump in oil prices.
Swiss Life was up 4.4 per cent after saying its premium income grew 5 per cent in the first 10 months of the year and repeating its target to outpace market growth in coming years.
The dollar remained a key focus, slumping to fresh all-time lows against the euro and to a near five-year low against the yen.
Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier was 2 per cent weaker after saying it was on track to deliver mid- to high-single digit profit growth this year and double-digit growth in 2005.
However, Reed said the growth in earnings expressed in sterling and euros would be almost entirely eliminated because of the weak dollar.
Earlier the FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips was 0.4 per cent higher at 1,038.5 points, just below 28-month highs hit last month, while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.4 per cent to 2,924.6 points.
Patchy economic data and conflicting signals from the bond market meant confidence in cyclical plays was not universal.