Market Update
European markets trended higher in early trade Friday ahead of a raft of macro-economic data due from the euro-zone later in the day.
The FTSE traded up 04%. The CAC 40 Paris was up 0.3% while the German DAX was up 0.7%.
From the euro-zone today, investors are focused on inflation data and business confidence indices. GDP growth figures are due from the U.K. Also in focus, the ECB is set to convene its monetary policy meeting next week April 3.
Stocks on the Move
Resources were higher in London, possibly lifted by reports of China’s potential increase in infrastructure expenditure.
In miners, Anglo American was up 2% while Glencore Xstrata gained 2.5%.
Prudential PLC and Aviva fell 2.3% and 8% each, respectively.
BNP Paribas and SocGen were up 0.3% and 0.9% each. Oil major Total SA edged 0.2% lower after the company said refining margins in Europe had dropped to a four-year low in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Over in Frankfurt, Daimler was up a percent while BMW added 0.6%.