With several European markets closed due to a holiday, trade was light on Thursday. However, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 managed to add 1.2 percent on the day to 1,300.26.
Among the stocks seeing gains on the day, several were helped by broker upgrades. Among those were Eiffage, the French construction group, which added 1.5 percent to €53.95 after Citigroup upgraded it from “hold” to “buy”, at least partly on a likely merger with Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso, which owns 33 percent of Effiage already. Sacyr was also up on the day, by 2.5 percent to €24.05.
In the banking sector, Spain’s Banco de Sabadell gained 2.4 percent to €26.81 on an upgrade from “hold” to “buy” from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Deutsche Bank upgraded ProSiebenSat.1 from “hold” to “buy”, sending the German broadcaster 5.1 percent higher to €20.00.
Other companies saw their shares gain value on bargain-hunting by investors. In the steel sector, for example, ThyssenKrupp gained 4.6 percent on the day to €26.29.
Losers on the day included stock exchanges. Euronext lost 1.6 percent to €65.90 after one of its major shareholders dropped its advocacy for a deal between it and Deutsche Borse, which dropped 2.9 percent to €97.82.