European Markets Seen Opening Mildly Positive

(RTTNews) - Stock markets in Europe are expected to rise on Friday tracking the rally in Wall Street and the strong gains in Asian markets. Economic data updates from the region as well as the lingering geopolitical concerns are however seen swaying market sentiment. Wall Street had closed on a positive note on Thursday as markets digested NVIDIA's earnings report as well as latest labor market data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.1 percent to finish trading at 43,870.35 whereas the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.03 percent to close trading at 18,972.42.

European markets closed on Thursday on strong positive note amidst a fresh batch of earnings updates and reduction in concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged 0.79 percent. Germany's DAX rallied 0.74 percent. The pan-European Stoxx-50 added 0.59 percent. Switzerland's SMI increased 0.51 percent whereas France's CAC 40 rallied 0.21 percent.

Current indications from the European stock futures indicate a positive sentiment. The DAX Futures (Dec) is trading flat. The CAC 40 Futures (Dec) has edged up 0.06 percent. The FTSE 100 Futures (Dec) has also edged up 0.04 percent. The pan-European Stoxx 50 Futures (Dec) has decreased 0.17 percent. The SMI Futures (Dec) however finished Thursday's trading 0.65 percent higher.

American stock futures are trading below the flatline. The US 30 (DJIA) is trading 0.01 percent lower, whereas the US500 (S&P 500) is trading 0.05 percent below the flatline.

Asian stock markets are trading on a broadly positive note but concerns about the economy weighed on China stocks. DJ New Zealand has surged 1.6 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark has rallied 0.87 percent. Australia's S&P ASX 200 has gained 0.85 percent. South Korea's KOSPI has rallied 0.80 percent. India's Nifty 50 has added 0.74 percent. China's Shanghai Composite has plunged close to 2 percent whereas Hong Kong's Hang Seng has erased 1.9 percent.

Amidst strong labor market data and renewed doubts about a Fed rate cut in December, the Dollar Index, a measure of the U.S. dollar's strength relative to six currencies, has jumped to a more than 1-year high. DXY is currently at 107.17 versus 106.97 on Thursday and 106.68 on Wednesday. The EUR/USD pair has edged down 0.07 percent to 1.0466 whereas the GBP/USD pair has dropped 0.14 percent to trade at 1.2569.

Safe haven demand continued to support a rally in gold prices. Gold Futures for December settlement is trading at $2,687.60, which is 0.47 percent higher than the previous close of $2,674.90.

Crude oil prices are trading just above the flatline amidst lingering geopolitical concerns. Brent Crude Futures for January settlement edged up 0.03 percent to trade at $74.25 whereas WTI Crude Futures for January settlement added 0.07 percent to trade at $70.15.

Major data releases scheduled for the day include Retail Sales for October from U.K. and HCOB PMI readings for November from Germany, France and Euro Area, third quarter GDP data from Germany, S&P Global PMI data from U.K. and a speech by ECB President Christine Lagarde are also keenly anticipated.