Europe close: Stocks climb despite bounce in euro

Stocks on the Continent ended the session higher as Wall Street steadied, albeit with traders keeping a close eye on government bond yields on both sides of the Atlantic as some of the world's top policymakers met in Frankfurt to discuss the challenges facing Germany.

At the closing bell, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was standing 0.19% or 0.76 points higher at 398.73, albeit alongside a 0.74% or 97.47 point gain for the Dax to 13,281.43 while the Cac-40 was 0.02% or 0.84 points higher to 5,494.83.

In parallel, euro/dollar added 0.52% to 1.2234, as the yield on the benchmark 10-year bund pared earlier gains to rise by one basis point to 0.57%, mimicking a grind higher on similarly-dated US Treasuries which earlier in the session had traded to within just a whisker of their 2017 highs.

Earlier, German central bank chief Jens Weidmann sounded a warning against focusing too much on his country's elevated current account surprlus, saying it was the result of the ECB's "very accomodative" monetary policy.

He also argued against there being any need for expansionary fiscal policies given the country's positive output gap.

Weidmann was speaking at a joint conference between the IMF and the Bundesbank and responding to a blog post by the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, calling on the German government to use part of its budget surplus to boost long-term growth.

At the same conference, ECB governing council member Benoit Coeure said the euro area had already abandoned the last crisis and was now in an expansion phase.

Hence, the emphasis now was on preparing for the next crisis.

No major economic reports were released on Thursday in the single currency bloc.

Acting as a backdrop, there was keen interest in whether an expected US House of Representatives vote, possibly as soon as on Thursday evening, on whether to extend the US federal government's debt ceiling would pass.

In the corporate space, Airbus got a lift from an Emirates Airline order for 36 Airbus A380s valued at $16bn, including an option for 16 more jets of the same model.

Carrefour on the other hand lowered its guidance for profits in 2017 for the second time in just six months, despite which its shares were moved higher.