European stocks end higher despite Ukraine tensions

European stock markets closed higher on Monday as investorsshrugged off concerns about the Ukraine-Russia crisis following disputedreferendums at the weekend, analysts said.London's FTSE 100 index of top companies closed 0.55 percent higher to close at6,851.75 points.Germany's DAX 30 jumped 1.26 percent to finish at 9,702.46 points and the CAC-40 inParis gained 0.37 percent to end the day at 4,493.65 points."Once again the weekend has brought with it heightened concerns over Ukraine,with the referendum, unsurprisingly, holding in favour of a break away from Kiev,"said Spreadex trader David White."But the market seems a little more comfortable with risk at this point, needingmore to induce fierce selling than when the crisis first took hold."Indeed, worry over this issue failed to dampen optimism for Asian stocks, as hopesfor government stimulus last night helped inflate China-listed stocks," he added.Pro-Russian rebels claimed late on Sunday that voters in eastern Ukraine had massively backed independence in disputed polls, which Kiev and the Westdismissed as an illegal "farce".Traders largely brushed aside new sanctions from the European Union againstRussians involved in the crisis, as the Kremlin said it respected the votes in twoeastern provinces, but left the door open to a negotiated solution.The euro rose to $1.3760 from $1.3758 late in New York on Friday.The European single currency dropped to 81.56 pence from 81.63 pence on Friday,while the British pound increased to $1.6869 from $1.6844.The price of gold dipped to $1,299.73 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from$1,291.25 on Friday.On the corporate front, shares in BSkyB slid 2.42 percent to close at 868.50 penceafter the British pay-TV group said it had held talks to buy 21st Century Fox'sinterests in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to create a pan-European televisiongiant.BSkyB, whichis39-percent owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, said it had"initiated preliminary discussions" with the group "to evaluate the potentialacquisition of its pay-TV assets in Germany and Italy".Shares in Siemens gained 2.07 percent to end at 98.17 euros after the Germanengineering giant said it is starting a share buyback programme costing up to 4.0billion euros.US stocks Monday moved higher with technology stocks rebounding after lastweek's retreat. In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.61 percent to16,684.10 points.The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.79 percent to 1,893.34, while the tech-rich NasdaqComposite Index jumped 1.52 percent to 4,133.75.Tech stocks like Amazon (+2.5 percent), Facebook (+3.1 percent) and Twitter (+4.17percent) rose after the sector suffered losses last week amid concerns they areovervalued.Asian stocks closed mixed to higher on Monday with Tokyo's benchmark Nikkeiindex down 0.35 percent.But Hong Kong leapt 1.82 percent after the Beijing government outlined moves todevelop the country's capital markets.