World stock markets advanced broadly on Tuesday as hope grew that the European debt crisis would be resolved.

U.S. stock indexes advanced in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are both ahead by more than 1.7 percent, with the NASDAQ up 1.4 percent.

European stock prices moved even higher in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times index is up 3.3 percent. The CAC-40 in Paris is ahead 4.5 percent, while the DAX index in Frankfurt is up 4.7 percent.

Earlier, in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index jumped 2.8 percent to finish at 8,610.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index soared 4.2 percent to finish the day's trading at 18,131.

Gold is trading up $29.53 at $1,656.40 an ounce.

The dollar is up against the yen, but down against the euro.