European stocks closed slightly higher at the end of Thursday's trading . The Stoxx 600 index ended trading up 0.1 percent after a sharp decline in technology stocks earlier in the day, which led to a decline in the European index by more than 1 percent. The shares of Europe's largest company by market value, Novo Nordisk, rose by about 4.3 percent, recovering more than half of its losses of about 7 percent on Wednesday. The shares of Allianz rose by 2 percent after the German insurer announced a larger-than-expected increase in net profit in the second quarter and said it was on track to meet its target for the full year. The shares of Siemens advanced 2.1 percent after the company exceeded expectations for quarterly results. Source: Qatar News Agency