By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) — European stocks sought to break from several days of losses on Thursday, helped by an unexpected rise in a measure of German business confidence, with sharp gains for banks such as Dexia SA and Commerzbank AG. Extending earlier gains, the Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +0.73% rose 0.7% to 221.93 in morning trade. The index closed down 1.3% on Wednesday, its fifth consecutive loss following a disappointing German bond auction and a weak Chinese manufacturing survey. U.S. markets are closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, placing an emphasis even more on news out of Europe. The Ifo Institute said its November index of German business confidence rose to 106.6 from 106.4 in October, against expectations for a fall to 105.1 by economists. The German DAX 30 index DX:DAX +1.34% sought to buck eight straight losing sessions, adding 1.3% to 5,529.37. The index fell 1.4% on Wednesday amid jitters that the euro-zone crisis has now hit the region’s largest economy after Germany saw poor demand for its 10-year bonds at an auction. Hard-hit banks and miners were among Thursday’s best performers so far, though analysts remained cautious about the strength of gains. “It’s just a thin day as the U.S. is shut and there is a small bout of short covering,� said Stephen Pope, managing partner at Spotlight Ideas. “Do not think for one second that we are done on the downside.� Shares of Commerzbank DE:CBK +5.58% jumped 6.4%, while Deutsche Bank AG DE:DBK +1.95% DB -0.22% rose 2.8% and insurer Allianz SE DE:ALV +1.58% rose 2.4%. Volkswagen AG, DE:VOW3 +1.72% , also hit hard recently, rose 1.4%. Shares of German multinational conglomerate Siemens AG DE:SIE +0.26% SI -0.29% rose 1.4%. Societe Generale analysts reiterated a buying rating on the company, adding Siemens to their SG Premium list, saying its defensive profile among cyclicals should limit the risk of material underperformance relative to the European benchmark. Shares of Deutsche Telekom AG DE:DTE +0.06% rose 1%. In a joint statement with AT&T Inc. T +0.18% , the companies said they would drop their application to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the merger of AT&T and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA unit. The companies said they would try to focus on getting U.S. Justice Department antitrust clearance first, but AT&T also said it plans a $4 billion charge in case the deal doesn’t go through. Banks also boosted the French CAC index FR:PX1 +1.38% , up 1.8% to 2,874.22. Shares of BNP Paribas SA FR:BNP +4.70% jumped 5% and Societe Generale SA FR:GLE +3.85% gained 4.7%. The French CAC 40 index FR:PX1 +1.38% rose 1.3% to 2,861.82. Shares of Belgian-Franco lender Dexia BE:DEXB +21.93% rose over 24% a day after a Belgian media said Belgian officials were seeking to renegotiate a bailout deal for the bank, which is being broken up, with the aim of getting France to take on a bigger share of the burden. Shares of Austrian-based Raiffeisen Bank International rose 6.3%. The Eastern Europe-focused lender reported a 58% drop in third-quarter consolidated profit to €130 million ($174 million). However, the result was higher than the average estimate of €99 million in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Shares of Arkema SA FR:AKE +9.66% rose nearly 10% after the French-based chemical group was upgraded to overweight from neutral at J.P. Morgan Cazenove, which said the group’s recently announced plans to sell its vinyls unit removes a “major negative influence� on valuation. Shares of Vallourec SA FR:VK +6.95% rose 4.8% after the French steel tube maker was lifted to overweight from equalweight at Morgan Stanley. “Amidst economic uncertainties, production decline of mature oil fields continues. Offsetting this requires at least $271 billion subsea & pipeline spend by 2017,� the analysts said. The FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +0.34% managed to rise 0.3% to 5,157.19 as banks followed the Continent higher. Shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC RBS +1.37% UK:RBS +2.34% rose 3.6% and Barclays PLC BCS -3.85% UK:BARC +3.30% gained 3%. Miners also helped, with Rio Tinto PLC RIO -0.48% UK:RIO +2.71% up 2.2% and BHP Billiton PLC UK:BLT +2.49% BHP +0.50% adding 2.4%. On the downside, BP PLC BP -0.20% UK:BP -0.63% fell 0.7% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDS.A +0.43% UK:RDSA -0.31% dropped 0.9%.

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