(RTTNews) - German stocks rose modestly on Thursday as Daimler's quarterly earnings beat expectations and investors remained hopeful of progress in U.S.-China trade talks.
In economic releases, data released by Markit Economics showed that the region's economy remained close to stagnation at the start of Q4.
Focus now turns to the ECB meeting later in the day, though no major policy changes are expected.
The benchmark DAX was up 51 points, or 0.4 percent, at 12,849 after gaining 0.3 percent in the previous session. The index hit a 16-month high of 12,914 earlier in the day.
Daimler soared 4.5 percent after stronger sales of luxury cars and higher profits in its van business helped shore up its third-quarter profits. BMW and Volkswagen gained around 1 percent each.
Chemical maker BASF climbed nearly 2 percent after confirming its 2019 outlook.
Wacker Chemie jumped 3.6 percent. The chemical group reported that its third-quarter net income increased to 86.3 million euros from 68.9 million euros last year.
Technology company Aixtron slumped 9 percent after its nine-month net result came in at 20.2 million euros compared to 27.7 million euros last year.
Sportswear group Puma dropped 2.4 percent after warning that it would take a hit from U.S. tariffs on China in the fourth quarter.
Dialog Semiconductor advanced 1.4 percent. The chip designer said it expects to report higher than anticipated revenue and profitability for the third quarter.
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