July 7 Reuters Oil stocks and chipmakers drove European shares higher on Thursday, with the latter getting a lift from upbeat preliminary results by South Korea39;s Samsung, while investors awaited minutes of the ECB39;s meeting for clues on rate hikes.

The continentwide STOXX 600 index was up 0.8 by 0718 GMT, after closing 1.7 higher in the previous session as a strike by Norway39;s oil and gas workers came to an end.

Semiconductor firms STMicroelectronics , BE Semiconductors, ASM International, ASML Holding gained between 2.4 and 3.3 after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd posted its best AprilJune profit since 2018, underpinned by strong memory chip sales to server customers. 

Shares of Tenaris jumped 5.4 to power the European oil and gas subindex after Jefferies raised its price target on the stock.

All eyes are on minutes by the European Central Bank due at 1130 GMT. They will come ahead of the July meeting where the ECB is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in its effort to tackle soaring inflation.

Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry JacobPhillips

Source Reuters