26.04.201819:40:00UTC+00European Markets Gain Amid Earnings, ECB in Focus

European stocks advanced on Thursday, as investors priced in a new batch of corporate earnings. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi provided insight into when the central bank will taper its bond purchases and start to hike interest rates.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally up 0.9 percent, with most sectors and major bourses in the green.

Stocks soared to intraday highs in late-afternoon trade at the same time investors pulled the euro lower.

Before the ECB's policy statement, investors sifted through a stream of earnings reports from big names including Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Royal Dutch Shell, with a mixed bag of results.

Autos stocks were among the top performers, rising over 0.7 percent amid earnings news. Germany's Volkswagen posted weaker-than-anticipated profits in the first three months of 2018. However, an impressive rise in vehicle sales over the same period pushed shares over 2.6 percent higher.

Technology stocks reduced losses from earlier in the session, closing 0.8 percent later in the day. BE Semiconductor, which sells equipment to chip makers, was the worst sectoral performer. Despite the Dutch company's better-than-anticipated earnings, investor sentiment appeared to be impacted by sales warnings from two major Apple suppliers earlier in the week. Shares of BE Semiconductor plunged nearly 17 percent.

Among individual stocks, Deutsche Bank dropped 1.3 percent after the embattled lender said first-quarter net profit slumped 79 percent to €120 million, and said it will shrink its U.S. investment bank. The report is the first since it ousted Chief Executive John Cryan.

Royal Dutch Shell lost 0.7 percent even as the oil producer posted its highest quarterly profit since 2013. First-quarter profit on a current cost-of-supplies basis — a number similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report — increased 69 percent to $5.7 billion.

Barclays declined 1.4 percent. The U.K.-based lender said a settlement of charges with the U.S. Justice Department helped weigh the bank down to a first-quarter loss of £764 million.