French and German stock markets hit record peaks in opening deals Thursday on hopes that the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve could cut interest rates in June.

The Paris benchmark CAC 40 index jumped as high as 8,191.35 points and the Frankfurt DAX briefly touched 18,027.56 points.

The CAC later stood at 8,185.26, up 0.6 percent from Wednesday's closing level. The DAX was 0.3 percent up at 18,014.32.

In London, the FTSE 100 was marginally lower at 7,771.05 points.