Both basic resources and oil and gas that kept investors on their toes Thursday. The price of Brent and WTI crude rose on Thursday, butstocks such as Seadrill and Tullow Oil both closed over 4 percent lower.
Goldman Sachs cut its price target for both BHP Billiton and Glencore, while reiterating its sell rating on other mining stocks. Consequently, mining stocks took a tumble Thursday, with Glencore closing at the bottom of the STOXX 600, down 9.6 percent, while Anglo American ended down over 5 percent.
In individual company news, Thomas Cook Group was one of the top performers in Europe with shares closing up around 2.7 percent after the British travel company reaffirmed its guidance for the year and said winter trading had started positively.
Shares in Monte dei Paschi di Siena soared near the top of the STOXX 600, closing up around 4.4 percent after it said on Wednesday it had reached an agreement with Nomura International to end a complex derivative trade called "Alexandria" that was hitting the Italian bank's profits.
In other market-moving news, Norway's central bank cut its key policy interest rate to 0.75 percent from 1 percent in a surprise move, as it warned that growth prospects for the country have weakened amid falling oil investment.