In Europe on Wednesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.3 percent to 1,205.03, its highest close in over three years, helped along by strength in the financial sectors.

Credit Agricole, France’s largest retail bank, gained 6 percent to €23.74 when its report that net profits were up by 23 percent, much more than had been expected.

The news prompted several agencies, including Deutsche Bank, WestLB, and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, to upgrade the stock Deutsche Bank also upgraded and increased its target price for UBS and Credit Suisse and also increased Commerzbank’s price target.

Commerzbank gained 2.4 percent to €22.21, while Credit Suisse also was up 2.4 percent, to SFr57.60 and UBS added 1.7 percent to SFr106.90.

Among reinsurers, UBS and Credit Suisse First Boston both upgraded Swiss Re, sending its stock up 2.4 percent to SFr82.50. Gains were also seen in technology sector, with STMicroelectronics up by 4.7 percent to €13.94, while Infineon gained 1.7 percent to €7.85, and ASML advanced by 0.9 percent to €13.76. There were some losers on the day. Accor, the hotels group, lost 2.7 percent to *42.33.

IT services group Atos Origin was down 2.4 percent to €59.75 even though its first half profits were up by 11 percent as it did not increase its full-year prediction. Brewer Heineken fell 0.5 percent to €26.87.

Morning trading on the Tokyo equities markets sent stocks higher, so that by midday, the Nikkei 225 had risen by 0.9 percent to 12,569.99, while the Topix index had gained 0.8 percent to 1,280.36.

The gains were seen in many sectors. Advertiser Dentsu, Japan’s biggest, added 3.2 percent to ¥288,000 even thought it announced an 11 percent decline in its quarterly operating profit on Monday.

The steel sector was also up. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing gained 2.6 percent to ¥1,676 as it announced price increases for September, while Nippon Steel was up 1.3 percent to ¥318.

Video game maker Square Enix added 3.5 percent to ¥3,100 on the announcement that it would bid for game machine manufacturer Taito. Taito’s shares were up by 12.4 percent to ¥181,000 on the news.

In other sectors, camera and copier maker Canon was up 1.4 percent to ¥5,650, securities firm Nomura gained 2.2 percent to ¥1,539, and supermarket chain Ito-Yokado added 4.5 percent to ¥4,150.

The banking sector, however, saw losses as Mizuho declined by 0.2 percent to ¥594,000.

Wall Street saw little movement at all on Friday as both the Dow Jones
Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite stayed all but unchanged on the day, and the S&P 500 saw only a slight gain.

The Dow closed flat at 10,559.23 as did the Nasdaq, ending the day at 2,136.73. The S&P gained 0.1 percent to close at 1,219.71. Over the week, all three indexes ended on the losing side, as the Dow fell by 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq dropped 1.0 percent, and the S&P declined by 0.9 percent.

Several sectors saw declines on the week. While computer maker Hewlett Packard saw a gain of 10.2 percent on the week to $26.49, others in the sector were not so successful. Gateway dropped 16.8 percent to $3.17, Dell lost 0.6 percent to $36.41, and Apple Computer declined by 0.6 percent as well, to $45.83.

Clothing retailers had a rough time of it as well. Gap lost 8.7 percent on the week, while Hot Topic fell 14.1 percent to $14.12. Both were down on disappointing quarterly reports. On the winning side, Six Flags was up by 18.8 percent to $6.45 on the week after its largest investor said that he wanted to triple his investment in the company.

New York equities markets were up at the end of the session on Wednesday, helped by good performance in the computer and chip making sector and falling oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 percent to 10,550.71, the Nasdaq composite also rose by 0.4 percent, to 2,145.15, and the S&P 500 was up by 0.1 percent to 1,220.24.

Hewlett-Packard gained 13.2 percent to $26.82 on news that the company has seen sales and profits rise above expectations under its new chief executive. HP’s performance helped other computer companies and chip makers to rally as well.

Dell was up 0.6 percent to $36.92, Apple gained 2 percent to $47.15, and Gateway was up 5.5 percent to $3.28 even though it announced on Monday that it was cutting its revenue and profits estimates for the full year.

Meanwhile, the fall in oil prices provided investors with a psychological, as one analyst commented, but didn’t do much good for the oil companies themselves. Chevron, for example, was down by 1.4 percent on the day to $59.84.

Fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch lost 3.9 percent to $58.85 on a quarterly earnings report that showed it had not reached analyst estimates. Merrill Lynch warned that retail stocks could fall well into September as high oil prices and rising interest rates affect consumer spending.