Most of the European shares gained on closing Thursday, as optimism Greece may get additional bailout after Germany approved to expand the European Financial Stability Fund in addition to the cheerful data on U.S growth and employment helped pare losses among the shares, however, the British benchmark indexes plunged following a drop in raw materials producers.
The benchmark index for Europe, the STOXX 600 ended higher by 0.66% to 228.90, and STOXX 50 ended up by 0.71% at 2178.71.
The leading benchmark indexes performed as the following:
CAC 40 Index
The French index climbed 32.03 points or 1.07% to finally close at 3027.65. The index started the session at 2978.26 and recorded throughout the day its highest level at 3060.43 and its lowest level at 2974.98.
Best performing stocks within the index were the BNP Paribas SA share which inclined 5.01% to settle at €31.14, in second place came the Societe Generale SA share which closed higher by 5.82% at €21.08 and in the third place came the Sanofi share which inclined 1.29% to settle at €49.85.
The worst performing shares in terms of subtracted value for the index were led by the LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA share as it plummeted 5.15% to end at €103.20, following is the PPR share as it shed 3.71% to settle at €103.80, while coming in third is the Pernod–Rickard SA share which slumped 2.18% to close at €60.44.
DAX Index
German equities advanced today as the benchmark index DAX 30 closed the session higher by 61.16 points or 1.10% at 5639.58. The index started the session at 5555.07 and recorded throughout the day its highest level at 5704.41 and its lowest level at 5533.33.
Best performing stocks within the index were the Commerzbank AG share which inclined 4.69% to settle at €2.01, in second place came the Allianz SE share which closed higher by 4.02% at €72.50 and in the third place came the Deutsche Bank AG share which inclined 3.86% to settle at €28.25.
The worst performing shares in terms of subtracted value for the index were led by the Adidas AG share as it plummeted 4.11% to end at €46.24, following is the Fresenius SE & Co share as it shed 3.18% to settle at €67.03, while coming in third is the K+S AG share which slumped 3.00% to close at €41.65.
FTSE 100 Index
The British benchmark index ended the day lower to settle at 5196.84 with a loss of 20.79 points or 0.40%. The index started the session at 5217.63 and recorded throughout the day its highest level at 5250.18 and its lowest level at 5160.77.
The worst performing shares in terms of subtracted value for the index were led by the BP PLC share as it plummeted 2.03% to end at £391.80, following is the Rio Tinto PLC share as it shed 2.96% to settle at £2966.50, while coming in third is the BG Group PLC share which slumped 2.02% to close at £1237.00.
Best performing stocks within the index were the Standard Chartered PLC share which inclined 2.72% to settle at £1358.00, in second place came the HSBC Holding PLC share which closed higher by 0.55% at £512.80 and in the third place came the Unilever PLC share which inclined 1.50% to settle at £2033.00.