A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Wednesday: ___ LONDON _ The U.K. services sector grew at a faster pace in October, continuing a six-month trend of rising optimism, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply said. The survey was treated with some caution, however, because recent results have been out of synch with official data confirming a continuing contraction. Separately, nationalized mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC, Britain's first big victim of the global credit crisis, said its trading performance improved in the third quarter, though it still expects to post a full-year loss. In European trading, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 1.4 percent, while Germany's DAX rose 1.7 percent and the CAC-40 in France ended 2.4 percent higher. ____ TOKYO _ Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added 0.4 percent after the local financial markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.8 percent, while South Korea's Kospi added 1.9 percent. ___ DUBLIN _ Ireland's unemployment rate fell in October for the first time in two years to 12.5 percent, the first sign that the worst of the recession could be over. Continued... |