European stock markets settled sharply higher on Thursday after the head of the European Central Bank said he is ready to pump more stimulus into the eurozone economy as needed.

Europe's leading Blue-chip index, EURO STOXX 50 jumped 71.23 points or 2.18 percent to settle at 3,270.09. UK's benchmark index FTSE 100 went up 110.79 points or 1.79 percent to close at 6,194.10.

Meanwhile, Germany's benchmark index DAX jumped 269.79 points or 2.68 percent to end at 10,317.84. French benchmark index CAC 40 jumped 98.87 points or 2.17 percent to end at 4,653.79.