By Sarah Turner
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares rose in early trading on Thursday, with automakers in the lead as shares of Renault (FR:RNO 32.77, -0.82, -2.44%) climbed 1.2% and Daimler (DE:DAI 44.32, +0.17, +0.37%) shares rose 1.3%. Axa (FR:CS 13.50, -0.06, -0.41%) shares were up 1.4% after it signed a deal to sell some operations to Resolution. Miners were also higher after the resignation of Kevin Rudd as Australia's prime minister with Xstrata (UK:XTA 1,000, -18.00, -1.77%) up 1.5%. The U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.4% to 5,198.74, the German DAX index advanced 0.4% to 6,230.42 and the French CAC-40 index climbed 0.6% to 3,664.15.
