European stock markets closed in the positive territory on Thursday after Unilever, Barclays, TotalEnergies, Sanofi, Standard Chartered and Linde released their respective first-quarter results. It was reported earlier in the day that Germany will no longer oppose a ban on Russian oil by the EU, while the bloc's authorities are reportedly looking to file more antitrust charges against Apple.

The DAX increased by 1.35% at the end of trading as Delivery Hero jumped 5.89%. London's FTSE 100 closed 1.13% higher, with Standard Chartered, its best performer, surging 13.32%. In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.98% at the close as Worldline soared 6.38% and led the gains.

The euro lost 0.34% against the dollar, selling at 1.05206 at 5:29 pm CET, while the pound fell by 0.72% compared to the greenback, going for 1.24548 concurrently.