European stocks enjoy Chinese holiday

European stocks shot higher Thursday as investors enjoyed a respite from volatile Chinese markets being closed for a long holiday weekend and took cheer from hints of more central bank stimulus.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 1.45 percent to stand at 6,171.44 points, Paris's CAC 40 index jumped 1.8 percent to 4,637.21 and in Frankfurt the DAX 30 soared 2.27 percent to 10,276.17.

A rally on Wall Street on Wednesday on upbeat US data also helped improve sentiment in European trading, as did calm on Asian markets.

"At least for a few days, concerns over China can be put to one side while the country closes its exchanges to celebrate seventy years since the end of World War II," said CMC Markets UK analyst Jasper Lawler.

Meanwhile the European Central Bank, as expected, kept its main rate at a record low 0.05 percent on Thursday. However, analysts were looking more for signals that it could step up stimulus if necessary.

Beyond causing panic in stock markets in recent weeks, slower growth in China -- the world's number two economy -- has led to drops in commodity prices and a rebound in the euro that are complicating the ECB's efforts to combat deflation and restore growth.

The ECB acknowledged inflation could turn negative again temporarily, and the bank cut its forecasts for inflation and growth.

ECB chief Mario Draghi said the bank could step up or extend its stimulus programme that is buying 60 billion euros of sovereign and corporate bonds per month.

"The asset purchase programme provides sufficient flexibility in terms of adjusting the size, composition and duration", said Draghi at a news conference.

It was "intended to run until the end of September 2016, or beyond, if necessary," he added.

The euro, which had been holding around $1.1220, fell more than a cent to below $1.1120 immediately after Draghi's comments.

European stock markets also shot up further after Draghi spoke.

"Following the wild sell-off in the equity complex, the central banks are naturally expected to remain fully supportive of the financial markets," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya at London Capital Group, who put an increase in US interest rates to December at the earliest.

- EasyJet soars -

In corporate action, shares in low-cost airline EasyJet soared 5.0 percent to 1,756 pence after it raised its full year pre-tax profit forecast to a record 675-700 million pounds (917-950 million euros, $1.03-1.07 billion).

Shares in supermarket chain Morrison jumped 4.7 percent to 170.80 pence on reports that South African billionaire Christo Wiese, already present in the British market, may go on a shopping spree.

In Switzerland, shares in Syngenta grew 3.2 percent to 337.30 francs after the agricultural products giant announced a share buyback of more than $2 billion and that it would sell its vegetable seeds business.

Syngenta, which last week saw its share price plunge 18 percent after US seed giant Monsanto finally dropped its campaign to buy it, said the measures aimed to "accelerate shareholder value creation".

However shares in French electricity company EDF slumped 3.7 percent to 18.01 euros after it announced a further delay in the startup of its next-generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville, which will increase the cost overruns for the project.

US markets extended their Wednesday rebound in opening trading on Thursday.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.50 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.51 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.28 percent.

The Dow had ended with a 1.8 percent gain on Wednesday as did the broader S&P 500, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumping 2.5 percent.

Those gains had helped Asian trading.

Tokyo ended 0.48 percent higher as the yen remained weak, while Seoul ended slightly higher and there were comfortable gains for Singapore and Taipei.

Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed to mark World War II Victory Day commemorations in China.

However, lingering concerns about Australia's commodity dependent-economy kept Sydney in the red, with the ASX 200 ending down 1.44 percent, while the "Aussie" dollar struggled around six-year lows marginally above 70 US cents.