U.S. stock market indexes rose in Thursday's midday trading, as progress on the Greek debt issue encouraged investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 rose one percent and the NASDAQ gained 1.2 percent.

European stock markets were higher at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained 1.5 percent to finish at 5,946. The CAC-40 in Paris moved up 1.5 percent to end at 3,982 and the DAX in Frankfurt jumped 1.1 percent to reach 7,376.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained two-tenths of a percent to finish at 9,816. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.5 percent to finish the day's trading at 23,398.

The price of gold fell more than $5 to trade at $1,509.08 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.