A stronger dollar, sharply firmer shares on Wall Street and hopes of more credit easing after Italy slashed a full percentage point off its discount rate overnight bolstered stocks across Europe on Tuesday.

Frankfurt

The Dax 30 index closed up 104.7 points at 4682.5.

Paris

The Paris bourse rocketed ahead on Tuesday as the Cac 40 index finished up 2.94% at 3,550.75 points.

The booming performance surprised many operators, who had expressed pessimism before the market opening as to whether the Cac 40 index could get back above 3,520 points and stay there.

The index opened with a 1.86% jump to 3,513.47 points, and after marking time there for a while, it zipped on up in late morning through the 3,520-point level.

European markets remained optimistic amid hopes of lower German and French interest rates.

On Monday, the Bank of Italy slashed its discount rate by a full point to 4% as part of the convergence process of rates in the future euro zone.