European shares opened higher on Thursday led by Sodexo after a solid update and helped by strong gains among mining stocks, Reuters reported . The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which fell 0.2 percent on Wednesday, rose 0.9 percent and euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index rose 1 percent. Sodexo rose more than 8 percent after the French catering-to-vouchers group said it would further cut costs to cope with a volatile global economy and forecast higher revenues and operating profit for the fiscal year 2015-16. Mining stocks were the top sectoral gainer to rise 2.8 percent, with BHP Billiton leading the way after saying its priority was to maintain a healthy balance sheet.
