European Shares Mostly Higher Before Debt Sales

(RTTNews) - European stocks were mostly higher on Thursday as bond market worries subsided, and investors awaited Eurozone retail sales data as well as debt auctions in France and the United Kingdom for direction.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 548.24 after climbing 0.7 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was marginally higher, while France's CAC 40 dipped 0.4 percent, days before the confidence vote on the French government.

Paris-based Nicox surged 12 percent after announcing it expects to fully repay all existing financial debts by 2026.

British animal genetics company Genus soared 11 percent after reporting strong annual results with a 24 percent increase in adjusted profit before tax.

Online trading platform IG Group Holdings gained 1 percent after launching a new share buyback program.

Low-cost airline and travel firm Jet2 slumped 14 percent after the company said it anticipates its EBIT to land towards the lower end of the consensus range. TUI shares fell over 2 percent and easyJet tumbled 3.5 percent.