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European stocks hit modest gains on Thursday, with chip makers boosted by an upbeat forecast on U.S. sales and the wider market digesting the release of positive economic growth and industrial output data from major trading partner China.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended provisionally around 0.2 percent higher, with most sectors and major indexes in the green.
However, U.K. equities were under pressure, as traders worried about the health of the British real-estate market and as shares of Primark owner AB Foods took a knock following a financial update.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index lost 0.3 percent at 7,700.96.
Technology stocks were among the advancers, rising 1.4 percent amid corporate earnings news. Several brokerages improved their stock recommendation for Dutch chip equipment maker ASML after the company reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Its shares climbed over three percent.
Shares of chip makers were also boosted from a report forecasting that U.S. shipments of chips will reach $50.1 billion in 2021.
Geberit jumped to the top of the European benchmark after the Swiss company posted annual sales data that meet analysts' expectations. The plumbing products maker had been struggling in recent months amid a slowdown of fitters in Germany. Its shares advanced over six percent.
Rightmove plunged towards the bottom of the index as J.P. Morgan downgraded its stock recommendation to "underweight" from "normal." Shares of Britain's biggest property website fell 3.7 percent.
Steinhoff International Holdings gained 5.1 percent. The company, currently in the process of restating its earnings after an accounting scandal, said it for the short term can back its debt obligations at the agreed-upon on rate.
