Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Thursday.
The DJ Stoxx basic resources index surged 3.1 percent to be Europe's lead sector as the copper price combined with Dutch bank ABN Amro citing good prospects for miners due to booming demand for bulk commodities from Asia.
ABN also raised its rating on BHP to "buy" from "add," with a price target of 845 pence. "Six or seven months ago people were writing off commodity stocks saying Chinese growth was slowing but it was nonsense and was just an unwinding," Daniel Birch, strategist at Execution said. "Commodities have come out the other side and apart from Europe there is still demand in China, other parts of Asia and the US It is still a good play, I would still be buying them." The FTSEurofirst 300 index closed 0.5 percent higher at 1,137.97 points. The index hit an intraday 3-year high of 1,139.67 on Wednesday.