With US Markets closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, European shares rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday.

Earlier Thursday, Asian markets rose and the Bombay Stock Exchange remained closed because of serious terrorist attacks in India's commercial capital of Mumbai, where more than 100 people were killed overnight and hostages were taken in financial district hotels.

The Dow Jones 600 is up over 2% and all open 17 Western European markets have risen.

ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, said it may cut as many as 9,000 jobs, or 3% of its global workforce, after reducing output as demand slumped.

The job cuts, in sales and administration, are part of the company's strategy to reduce spending by $1 billion, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said today.

The steelmaker, founded by Indian-born billionaire CEO Lakshmi Mittal, said earlier this month that it was cutting output by more than 30% as the global economic slowdown cuts demand from by builders and carmakers.

The Government should nationalise all six of the Ireland's banks, according to Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

The demand came ahead of a crucial meeting between the financial institutions and the Minister for Finance about the future of the lenders on Friday.

A consortium of private equity investors and a fund management companies are proposing investing in some banks.

Finfacts Report: New Irish banks recapitalisation plan developing including possible co-investment with State

In Dublin, the Iseq Index is up 2.8%.

IL&P is up 23%; AIB 19%; BoI 9% and Anglo Irish 3%.