World markets recover amid Greece rescue hopes

Global stocks gave mixed signals today with the European markets climbing higher on good corporate earnings and IMF assurance on a bailout package for the crisis-hit Greece.

European markets rose as much as 1 per cent in the morning trade, shrugging off the downgrade of Spain's credit ratings and relatively weak showing in Asian markets.

The London Stock Exchange's benchmark FTSE 100 jumped nearly 1 per cent to 5,627.92 points while France's CAC 40 went up by a similar percentage to 3,825.13 points. Germany, which is expected to play a key role in helping Greece, saw its stocks sail northwards. The country's DAX index was up 0.52 per cent at 6,115.99 points in early trade.

Asian shares witnessed mixed trends with Hong Kong and Chinese markets closing in the red. Hang Seng shed nearly 1 per cent to 20,778.92 points and Shanghai Composite shed 1.10 per cent to 2,868.43 points.

However, India's 30-share Sensex gained over 123 points to close at 17,503.47 points, as investors cheered latest food inflation figures, which declined to 16.61 per cent for the week ended April 17.

Singapore's Straits Times Index too rose nearly 1 per cent to 2,959.01 points. Japanese markets were closed for a local holiday today. Amid rising hopes of financial lifeline for debt-laden Greece, reports said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has signalled it would increase the bailout package for the Euro zone nation.

IMF is expected to raise its emergency funding for Greece from the promised $45 billion. Meanwhile, concerns about S&P downgrade of Spain's ratings were offset by good earnings report from entities such as Siemens and Unilever.

Spain's ratings cut has raised fresh fears about the debt crisis spreading to other European countries.

The US Federal Reserve's move to hold benchmark rate at near-zero levels also helped in boosting overall investor sentiment as the US bourses closed in the green overnight.

Dow and S&P 500 ended marginally up at 11,045.27 points and 1,191.36 points, respectively yesterday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed flat at 2,471.73 points.