European share markets closed higher on Thursday after five days of losses as miners and banks regained lost ground.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.8% at 823.32 points.
The index is up more than 27% since early March but the rally stalled last month on concerns about the pace of global economic recovery and corporate profits.
UBS ended 2.9% and Deutsche Bank gained 4.6%. Banco Santander, Credit Suisse, HSBC and UniCredit rose between 1.4% - 2.5%.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4,630.07 points, up 57.42 or 1.26%.
In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,025.94 points, up 16.23 or 0.54%. The Swiss market index closed at 5,305.39 points, up 16 or 0.3%.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 4,158.66 points, up 18.43 or 0.45%. Earlier, the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 0.5% for a fourth month.
Other markets
In Japan, the Nikkei fell 1.4% or 129.69 points to 9,291.06 - its lowest finish since 22 May.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index finished up 69.52 points, 0.39%, at 17,790.59.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index fell 4.6 points, 0.1%, to 3,763.3. The All Ordinaries index also shed 4.6 points, 0.12%, to 3761.4 points.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index closed down 8 points or 0.3%, at 2741.
The dollar was trading at 62.78 US cents, 80.3 Australian cents, 39.02 pence, 58.55 yen and 0.4516 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 59.6.