German shares started the ball rolling, opening more than one per cent higher with encouragement from the overnight surges in Asia and on Wall Street. It extended gains to more than two per cent before pulling back slightly. The strong performance on overseas markets and fading concerns about a possible devaluation in China also sent the UK's FTSE 100 index flying 100 points at the open. China's central bank governor said China would devalue the yuan only if there were a large balance of payments deficit, adding that there was lessreason now to devalue than at the peak of the Asian financial crisis. The main UK share index eased after the initial mark-up to just under one per cent higher. Telecom and bank stocks led the charge in London but media group Reed International notched up the biggest rise amid hopes that the company will soon appoint a new chief executive. The shares gained 6.2 per cent. ``There's nothing around to harm us this morning,'' said one sales trader at a British brokerage. Paris stocks opened 1.36 per cent higher, encouraged by the late rally on Wall Street and stronger dollar.