The European stock markets remained in a tight range on Tuesday as investors were conscious about the six consecutive sessions of gains for the region that help few stocks, including airlines Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. At Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 6:15AM EST, the FTSE 100 index advanced +2.08 points or +0.04% to 5,862.83 whereas the DAX index dropped -3.38 points or -0.05% to 7,026.01 and the CAC 40 also went down -9.21 points or -0.24% to 3,883.23. Finance Minister of Ireland instructed Allied Irish Banks PLC to renege on nearly $53.6 billion of staff bonuses after public outcry over the impending payments at the state supported bank. The official data released on Tuesday showed that the annual consumer price inflation in U.K rose to 3.3% in November, 0.1% up from previous month, the figure crosses as the Bank of England expected. Food, non-alcoholic beverages, and clothing are the major drivers behind annual inflation in October and November. HCP, Inc. (NYSE:HCP) announced on Monday that it has agreed to buy all of the real estate assets of HCR ManorCare Inc. for $6.1 billion. HCP also said it will pay $3.53 billion in cash and $852 million in stocks and will also reinvest $1.72 billion from the payoff of HCP’s existing debt investments in HCR ManorCare. Euro strengthened versus US dollar also gained versus other major currencies. Euro Exchange Rates: 1 Euro is equal to 1.3497 US Dollar, the Euro advanced +0.807%. 1 Euro is equal to 0.8498 British Pound, the Euro advanced +0.635%. 1 Euro is equal to 1.3573 Canadian dollars, the Euro advanced +0.626%. 1 Euro is equal to 111.8230 Japanese yen, the Euro advanced +0.069%. 1 Euro is equal to 60.6555 Indian Rupee, the Euro advanced +0.393%. 1 Euro is equal to 1.3485 Australian dollars, the Euro advanced +0.293%. 1 Euro is equal to 1.2962 Swiss Franc, the Euro declined -0.026%. Gold prices jumped 0.72% and reached it high of $1,407.30 during the last trading session. The yellow metal opened the day at $1,401.90 and traded in between the range of $1,382.50 - $1,415.30. At New York Mercantile Stock Exchange in Singapore trading session, the benchmark light sweet crude oil future contract for January 2011, delivery advanced +0.15% to $88.78 per barrel and reached the day high of $88.94 per barrel. Brent Crude future contract for January 2011, delivery advanced +0.27% to 91.46 per barrel reaching its day high on ICE futures exchange in London.

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