A solid increase across autos buoyed European stocks on Thursday, as hopes over an easing in U.S. trade policy pushed the sector, though investors remained cautious on the eve of a U.S. deadline to impose tariffs on China's imports.
Photo: Reuters
The pan-European STOXX 600 index jumped 0.4%.
The DAX index in Germany was 0.4% higher at 12,368.06 at the open. France's CAC 40 ticked up 0.1% to 5,327.20. Italy's FTSE MIB added 0.4% to 21,783.44 and Spain's IBEX 35 was up 0.3% at 9,786.00.
Stocks which have been especially affected by the uncertainty over the global trade war made some progress on Thursday, with autos leaping 3.2 percent, while basic resources gained 1.3 percent and banks climbed 1.1 percent.
German autos BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen led the rise among the STOXX, up as much as 4.7 percent after a report about a U.S. proposal to delay threats to impose tariffs on vehicles imported from the trade bloc.