World stock markets mostly rose Monday after upbeat manufacturing data and positive earnings from big British banks stoked renewed buying that sent the Standard & Poor's 500 index over 1,000 briefly for the first time this year.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 74.10 points, or 1.6 percent, at 4,682.46 while Germany's DAX jumped 94.71 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 5,426.85. The CAC-40 in France was 51.53 points, or 1.5 per cent, higher at 3,477.80.

And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 74.82 points, or 0.8 per cent, at 9,246.43 around midday New York time, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 9.49 points, or 1 per cent, to 996.97, having earlier traded above the 1,000 mark for the first time since November.

The optimistic start to the week, which began earlier in Asia, was largely due to a raft of better-than-expected manufacturing data. Those reports stoked hopes among investors that the global recession was running its course and that the July stock market rally will likely continue through August.

Industry contraction slows

In the United States, investors were encouraged because the manufacturing sector contracted at its slowest pace since last August as companies boosted production following a big drawdown of stocks. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its manufacturing index rose to 48.9 in July from 44.8 in June.

Though manufacturing remains in recession, the survey indicated that the scale of the contraction was easing - any reading below 50 indicates a contraction in activity but the nearer to 50, the less marked the contraction.

"While US manufacturing may be one of the least likely areas to expect recovery this year, the increasing likelihood of inventory rebuilding suggests upside surprises may be just around the corner," said Michael Woolfolk, an analyst at the Bank of New York Mellon.

The moderating decline in US manufacturing mirrored earlier improvements seen in surveys for China, Britain and the 16 countries that use the euro.

In Britain, the equivalent index jumped to 50.8 in July from 47.4 in June, largely as a result of a sharp pick-up in new orders.