World markets rise after Wall St rally

World sharemarkets pushed higher, in Asia boosted by an election in Thailand and in Europe by corporate developments.

French retailer Carrefour agreed to a plan to combine its Brazilian with those of a local company while Germany’s Bayer climbed 1.4% after the US Food and Drug Administration approved an anti-clotting drug the company jointly developed with Johnson & Johnson.

Trading was subdued with Wall Street closed for the Independence Day holiday after rising the most last week in two years. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.2% at 275.54.
The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.5% to 6017.54, Germany's DAX firmed 0.3% to 7442.96 and France's CAC-40 index slipped 0.1% to 4003.11.

A strong post-election rally in Thailand led a broad advance in Asian markets, with exporters and financial shares driving gains around the region.

Stocks in Bangkok jumped amid hopes that the decisive election victory for a party headed by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, would spur consumption and investment. The benchmark SET Index jumped 4.7% to 1090.28.

In Tokyo, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average briefly scaled the 10,000 barrier, ending the day up 1% at 9965.09. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.7% to 22,770.47 and China's Shanghai Composite Index added 1.9% to 2812.82.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 4610.7, coming off early highs after a report that retail sales in May were far worse than expected.

Korea's Kospi gained 0.9% to 2145.30, Singapore's Straits Times index gained 0.5% to 3153.44, Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.4% to 8774.72 and India's Sensex rose 0.3% to 18,814.48.

Commodities: Oil steady, gold firms
Crude futures were little changed, with many market participants off for the July 4 holiday in the US. The front-month August Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was down 11USc, or 0.1%, at $US111.66 a barrel. The front-month August contract on the Nymex was up 16USc, or 0.2%, at $US95.10 a barrel.

The spot price of gold rose as a stronger euro-dollar heightened the appeal of the dollar-denominated metal.

Spot gold in London was up $US7.60, or 0.5%, at $US1494.10 an ounce, as it continued to recover from the six-week intraday low of $US1478.29 an ounce on Friday.

Currencies: Euro remains firm
The euro steadied against the US dollar in European trading, holding above $US1.45.

The euro was at $US1.4524 from $US1.4526 late on Friday in New York. The dollar was at ¥80.61 from ¥80.83, while the euro was at ¥117.10 from ¥117.47.

The UK pound rose to $US1.6094 from $US1.6075 and the dollar rose 0.8488 Swiss francs from 0.8407 francs.