European Stocks Brush Off Asia's Declines And Trade Mostly Higher

Asian stocks were mostly lower on Thursday with a notable exception coming out of Japan. Japan's Nikkei index gained 0.41 percent following encouraging earnings reports from a range of sectors, including Tokuyama Corp (chemical company), Mitsubishi Motors (auto) and DeNA Co (mobile and e-commerce). The Nikkei Volatility index which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options fell 4.90 percent. India's Mumbai Sensex index was higher by 0.75 percent.

noted that the country's upper house of Parliament passed a new bankruptcy code to address corporate debts and improve the ease of doing business.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.70 percent, Taiwan's TSEC index lost 0.34 percent, Australia's ASX index lost 0.21 percent and China's Shanghai index lost 0.04 percent. European stocks were mostly higher and reversed earlier losses. With more than 4 hours of trading remaining major indices were solidly in the green, led by a 1.0 percent gain in Germany's DAX index. France's CAC index was higher by 0.67 percent and the UK's FTSE index was higher by 0.42 percent. Oil prices were also higher early Thursday morning after the International Energy Agency suggested that global oil inventory will undergo a "dramatic reduction" in the bottom half of 2016 due to strong global demand and decreasing supply from major producers. The price of brent crude rose around 1 percent to trade at $46.67 a barrel while WTI crude rose 0.8 percent to trade at $47.96 a barrel.