The Dax has so far processed the previous day's damper well on Thursday. With plus 0.70 percent to 12,604.33 points, the leading German index resumed its recent recovery rally in the first hour of trading.

Measured against its low of 11,862 points since November 2020, it has currently gained more than six percent. The fact that there were no major profit-taking the day before after the rally and despite a restrained Wall Street gives hope for further price gains towards the 13,000 mark, wrote analyst Jochen Stanzl from broker CMC Markets.

The MDax of medium-sized companies rose 1.33 percent to 23,289.44 points in early Thursday trading. The Eurozone's leading index, the EuroStoxx 50, was 0.6 percent higher. The stock market's hopes for a less restrictive monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) had clearly driven the stock markets, especially at the beginning of the week.

The pilots' strike at the subsidiary Eurowings did not affect Lufthansa shares. The titles listed in the MDax increased in price by 1.7 percent. In the second-tier segment, Home24 stood out with a price jump of 123 percent. The reason is a planned takeover by the Austrian furniture giant XXXLutz. In the wake of Home24, Westwing also gained more than 18 percent.

Shares in Porsche AG rose to over 90 euros with a recent increase of 3.3 percent. The investment banks involved in the multi-billion IPO of the sports car manufacturer supported the share price with massive purchases in the first few days after the IPO. The preferred shares were issued a week ago for EUR 82.50 each and threatened to fall below this mark several times on the first trading days.