European Markets Close To The Upside On Friday

(RTTNews) - The major European markets finished on a positive note on Friday, extending gains from the previous session. They opened higher and largely remained positive throughout the session, finally ending in the green.

The strong start was spurred by a batch of solid economic data that helped to ease concerns about recession.

The DAX in Germany surged 250.75 points or 1.64 percent to finish at 15,578.39, while London's FTSE rose 3.07 points or 0.04 percent to close at 7,947.11 and the CAC 40 in France improved 63.90 points or 0.88 percent to end at 7,348.12.

In Germany, Volkswagen skyrocketed 10.56 percent, while Daimler Truck Holding surged 5.16 percent, Covestro soared 3.57 percent, Deutsche Post rallied 2.39 percent, Siemens Energy jumped 2.21 percent, Deutsche Bank climbed 1.94 percent, Infineon Technologies advanced 1.87 percent, Heidelberg Cement dipped 0.27 percent, Deutsche Telekom rose 0.26 percent and Deutsche Borse perked 0.09 percent.

In London, Persimmon soared 4.01 percent, while Antofagasta spiked 2.65 percent, Schroeders jumped 1.85 percent, BAE Systems tumbled 1.26 percent, Rightmove slumped 1.06 percent, Rolls-Royce and Airtel Africa both accelerated 1.00 percent, Scottish Mortgage Investment advanced 0.97 percent, Shell dropped 0.94 percent, Vodafone climbed 0.88 percent, Tesco added 0.87 percent and Rentokil gained 0.82 percent.

In France, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain spiked 1.69 percent, while Societe Generale collected 1.66 percent, Veolia Environment and Accor both jumped 1.47 percent, BNP Paribas gathered 1.40 percent, Credit Agricole climbed 1.06 percent, Engie advanced 0.71 percent, Atos sank 0.67 percent, Vivendi added 0.51 percent, Carrefour eased 0.11 percent and Orange dipped 0.04 percent.

In economic news, the euro area private sector activity grew the most since mid-2022 on a quick upturn in the services sector, while manufacturing activity landed on broad stabilization in February. The final composite output index rose to 52.0 in February from 50.3 in January, S&P Global said on Friday. The flash reading was 52.3.

Also, Eurozone producer price inflation slowed notably in January on easing energy price growth, data from Eurostat showed on Friday. Producer prices posted an annual increase of 15.0 percent in January after a 24.5 percent surge in December. Prices were forecast to gain 17.7 percent.

Finally, Germany's exports rebounded more than expected in January, underpinned by shipments to the US, Destatis data revealed on Friday. Exports increased 2.1 percent on month in January, in contrast to the 6.3 percent decline in December. Shipments were forecast to grow 1.5 percent.