By Sara Sjolin
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets rallied in afternoon trade on Thursday, after stellar gains for U.S. equities inspired riskier investments globally as policy makers signaled interest rates would remain low. The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +1.02% surged 1.1% to 257.13, after trading as low as 253.43 earlier in the session. The U.K. FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +1.21% jumped 1.3% to 5,706.34, while the German DAX 30 index DX:DAX +1.04% gained 1.1%. The French CAC 40 index FR:PX1 +0.83% rose 0.9% to 3,266.91. Bucking the positive trend in Europe, Portugal's PSI 20 index PT:PSI20 -1.14% tumbled 1.1% to 5,251.17 and Spain's IBEX 35 index XX:IBEX -0.57% gave up 0.5% to 7,538.20.
