European markets extended the previous session's gains Thursday, after the Bank of England left its key lending rate unchanged at a record low and data from the US revealed a bigger-than-expected weekly decline in first-time jobless claims.
Miners, lenders and automakers led the gains.
The UK's FTSE 100 Index gathered 64.42 points or 1.18% to 5494.16, a four-month high.
The German DAX Index gained 57.08 points or 0.92% to 6221.52; and the French CAC 40 closed up 44.94 points or 1.22% at 3722.15.
In the US, the Dow is gaining 0.63%, the Nasdaq is adding 0.75% and the S&P 500 is moving up 0.85%.
According to the US Labor Department, initial jobless claims slipped by 27,000 to 451,000 in the week ended September 4. Economists had been looking for a more modest decrease to 470,000.
Meanwhile, the US trade deficit narrowed to $42.8 billion in July from $49.8 billion in June, compared to a shortfall of $47.3 billion economists were expecting.
Crude oil for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange added $0.75 to $75.42 a barrel.
The Energy Information Administration in its weekly inventory report released this morning said US crude inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels to 359.90 million barrels in the week ended September 3.
However, the price of gold edged down for a third day. December gold dropped $11.70 to $1245.80 an ounce.
In economic news from Europe, French payroll employment increased 0.2% in the second quarter from the previous quarter, the statistical office INSEE revealed on Thursday, confirming its preliminary estimate.
German consumer prices remained flat on a monthly basis in August, and eased year-over-year to 1% from 1.2% in July, according to the final estimate by the Federal Statistical Office.
Greek industrial output declined 8.6% year-on-year in July, but at a slower pace compared to the 10.2% fall recorded during the same month a year ago.
Among UK banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays advanced around 5% each. Standard Chartered gained 2.40% and Lloyds Banking Group moved up 2.24%.
Miners Xstrata and Vedanta Resources rose 3.3% each. Rio Tinto gathered 2% and BHP Billiton added 1.90%.
Tullow Oil gained 1.85%, BG Group rose 1.71% and BP ended up 0.80%. Meanwhile, Cairn Energy shed 1.13%.
Chip maker Arm Holdings gathered 3.99% and cruise ship operator Carnival added 3.60%.
Utilities Centrica and Aggreko gained over 2% each.
Home Retail Group, which revealed it expects a 20% to 25% decline in pre-tax half-yearly profit, dropped 2.80%.
Morrison Supermarkets, which reported a first-half profit of GBP 286 million, down from GBP 309 million a year ago, ended flat.
Aerospace and defense firm BAE Systems lost 1.29% and telecommunications provider BT Group eased 1.12%. Insurance broker Admiral Group gave in 0.92%.
German car maker Daimler rose 2.72%. Volkswagen gained 2.29%, truck maker MAN moved up 2.22% and BMW added 1.02%.
Commerzbank gathered 2.31% and Deutsche Bank ended up 2.26%.
Software firm SAP gained 2.47% and chip company Infineon Technologies added 1.93%. Airliner Lufthansa rose 2.01%.
Personal care products maker Beiersdorf added 1.12% and Henkel ended up 0.82%.
Meanwhile, utilities RWE and E.ON lost 1.01% and 0.46% respectively. Fresenius Medical Care eased 0.76% and chemical firm K + S edged down 0.23%.
In Paris, lender Credit Agricole advanced 4.58%. Societe Generale added 3.41% and BNP Paribas gained 1.79%.
Auto stocks also ended notably higher. Peugeot rose 4.54% and Renault gathered 3.14%.
Airbus maker EADS added 3.14% and Air France-KLM ended up 2.36%.
Construction company Bouygues gained 2.59% and cement maker Lafarge rose 1.84%.
Cap Gemini added 2.89%, Schneider Electric gathered 2.33% and STMicroelectronics moved up 1.91%.
Among the losers, insurance provider Axa eased 0.80%. Arcelormittal and LMVH edged down 0.15% each.
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