Strong gains by the U.S. stock market on Tuesday helped to propel European and Asian stocks higher yesterday, pushing the Dow Jones World Stock Index up 0.43 point, or 0.22%, to 199.78.</br></br>Several European markets set highs, including London, up 0.8%; Germany, up 0.1%; the Netherlands, up 0.3%; Finland, up 1.2%; and Sweden, up 0.9%. France, which was closed Monday and Tuesday, played catch-up with the rest of Europe and jumped 2.1%, while Italy rose 0.4% and Switzerland slid 0.3%.</br></br>In Asia, Japanese stocks rose 0.8% and gave some support to other markets in the region, with Hong Kong up 3.4%, South Korea up 2.2% and Taiwan up 1.1%.</br></br>Russia continued its rally with a 3.8% rise in the wake of the financial package assembled earlier in the week by the International Monetary Fund. South Africa rose 2%.</br></br>European markets rose 0.7% as measured by the Dow Jones Stoxx Index of 665 European companies, which closed up 2.00 points at 311.57.