In activity in the European markets on Thursday, automobile makers were having a good day at mid-day Thursday.

Volkswagen rose 1.8 percent on the strength of a quarterly report that was better than expected. Additionally, Fiat was up 4.3 percent, Renault rose 2.5 percent, and Peugeot advanced by 1.8 percent.

In the drinks sector, Pernod Ricard rose 7.4 percent on predictions that its takeover of Allied Domecq would save the French company on costs. Allied Domecq rose as well, and was up 3.8 percent.

These were just some of the gains that helped the markets to be up in mid-afternoon trading on Thursday. the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.3 percent to 1,067.76, Xetra Dax, Frankfurt’s market, rose 0.6 percent to 4,203.29, and the CAC-40 was up 0.5 percent to 3,967.91 in Paris.

Gains in the telecommunications sector helped the markets rise, as well. Nokia rose 5.8 percent on news of a first-quarter earnings report that saw higher than expected gains. Even before this news was made public, other telecommunications companies were up in afternoon trading. Ericsson was up 3.5 percent, Alcatel advanced 1 percent after earlier losses, France Telecom advanced 2.3 percent, and Telefonica was up 1.5 percent.

Chipmakers also responded to Nokia’s positive report. STMicroelectronics advanced 2.9 percent and ASML was up 1.5 percent.