FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - After three consecutive days of losses, the Dax picked up slightly on Thursday. The leading index was driven in particular by strong automotive stocks. They benefited from a surprisingly good quarterly result from the US electric car manufacturer Tesla.

Ultimately, the leading German index ended the day up 0.34% at 19,443.00 points. The MDax, the index of mid-cap blue chips, gained 0.44% to 27,142.17 points.

The EuroStoxx 50, the eurozone's leading index, rose by 0.26% to 4,935.45 points. London and Zurich also saw an upward trend, while in the USA the Dow Jones Industrial fell slightly and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 index rose somewhat, not least thanks to strong gains in Tesla shares.

"Margins are finally rising again," wrote analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from broker CMC Markets about Tesla. "Although problems such as weaker demand and increasing competition from Chinese electric car manufacturers still cannot be ignored, Tesla is successfully counteracting them." This also helped German car stocks./ck/he