(RTTNews) - French stocks were moving higher on Thursday ahead of minutes from the European Central Bank's last policy meeting due later in the day.
Sentiment was underpinned after German GDP and business confidence numbers came in better than expected.
Closer home, confidence among the French manufacturers weakened further as expected in August, as they were less confident about past changes in production and order books, survey data from the statistical office INSEE showed.
The business climate index for the manufacturing sector fell to 104 in August from 106 in July, in line with expectations.
The benchmark CAC 40 climbed 40 points, or 0.6 percent, to 6,427 after rising 0.4 percent in the previous session.
Veolia shares rose about 1 percent after the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority ordered that the French waste management firm must sell most of the operations it took over in the U.K. when it acquired Suez.
