LONDON » European stock markets closed higher yesterday in the wake of earlier gains in Asia and Wall Street's fourth consecutive rise on Wednesday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Indian markets were closed after deadly attacks in the country's financial capital.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 73.41 points, or 1.8 percent, at 4,226.10, while Germany's DAX was 104.77 points, or 2.3 percent, higher at 4,665.27. The CAC-40 in France was 80.54 points, or 2.5 percent, higher at 3,250.39.

U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving.

Banks across Europe, including Standard Chartered PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG and Societe Generale SA, did well, while heavyweight energy stocks such as BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell and Total SA firmed following Wednesday's 8 percent rally in the price of oil.

Europe's gains came as Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added almost 2 percent to 8,373.39 points, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng benchmark rose 1.4 percent to 13,552.06.

The rise in European and Asian markets came after Wall Street reversed early losses Wednesday to end up solidly in the black.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed 2.9 percent higher at 8,726.61, its first four-day winning streak since April 15-18. Meanwhile, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 3.5 percent, to close at 887.68.

“;Four straight days of the S&P rising not only provides a welcome respite for markets it makes a half-decent Thanksgiving Day present,”; said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners.

There are some hopes in markets that a raft of policy measures around the world, such as the rescue of Citigroup Inc., may limit the scale of the global downturn next year, though the upcoming Christmas sales period is not expected to be particularly good for retailers.

Britain's home improvements firm Kingfisher PLC was down 6 percent yesterday after predicting a gloomy 2009 and investors took fright at the news that general retailer Woolworths PLC has been put into administration after its creditors effectively pulled the plug.

In the U.S., investors are responding to President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to have an economic plan to deal with the crisis on his first day in office in mid-January and mounting expectations that the U.S. government will bail out troubled automaker General Motors Corp.

Investors also cheered China's 1.08 percentage-point rate cut to spur private borrowing and support a multibillion-dollar stimulus package to keep the country's economy - a key engine of growth in Asia and elsewhere - from slowing too fast.

Across Asia, commodity and shipping stocks soared on hopes that China's rate cut - the fourth in three months - would underpin demand for metal, oil and other resources as well as the means to transport them.

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. gained 5.7 percent, and No. 2 Chinese steel maker Angang surged 7.3 percent in Hong Kong. Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the world's biggest cargo shipper, jumped 7.4 percent.

Oil prices were down slightly yesterday after rallying 8 percent the previous session. The January contract was down $0.47 to $53.97 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar was steady at 95.55 yen, while the euro was unchanged at $1.2878.