Investing.com - European stocks moved higher on Friday, as investors awaited a U.S. employment report due later in the day and as a rebound in oil prices lent support the energy sector.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.54%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.55%, while Germany’s DAX 30 added 0.12%.
Market participants were eyeing the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday for further indications on the strength of the job market after Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said earlier in the week that the U.S. labor market is almost at full strength and that the pace of interest rate increases will be data dependent.
A rise in oil prices helped energy-related stocks move higher on Friday. French oil and gas major Total SA (PA:TOTF) edged up 0.09% and Italy’s ENI (MI:ENI) rose 0.30%, while Norways Statoil (OL:STL) added 0.31%.
Financial stocks were also broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) gained 0.37% and 0.78%, while Germany’s Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) advanced 0.45%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) jumped 1.22% and 1.03% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) climbed 0.77% and 0.84%.
On the downside, Adidas AG (DE:ADSGN) tumbled 1.73% following reports the sportswear retailer is launching a new product line called Adidas Athletics, in a move to compete with rival company Nike (NYSE:NKE).
Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) added to losses, with shares retreating 0.55% after the automaker said on Thursday it had filed an appeal of a federal labor board decision on its dispute with the United Auto Workers union in Tennessee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The union wants to get Volkswagen to negotiate wages and benefits for about 160 of the 1,500 hourly workers of a Chattanooga plant in Tennessee.
In London, FTSE 100 added 0.18%, boosted by Astrazeneca (LON:AZN), whose shares rallied 1.23% even as US regulators said the drugmaker will have to pay £4.2 million to resolve a foreign bribery probe into improper payments by its sales and marketing staff to state-employed healthcare officials in China and Russia.
Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) Holdings was also on the upside, as shares climbed 0.72% after the engineering giant said it may stop providing military services in the U.K. and move operations elsewhere after a government cap was placed on its local profits.
Meanwhile, mining stocks were broadly lower, as Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) fell 0.13% and 0.28% respectively, while Glencore (LON:GLEN) dropped 0.60% and Anglo American (LON:AAL) tumbled 1.13%.
In the financial sector, stocks were also mostly on the downside. Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) eased 0.08% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) edged down 0.17%, while Barclays (LON:BARC) slid 0.32%. HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) overperformed however, with shares up 1.27%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady to higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.04% gain, S&P 500 futures showed a 0.01% uptick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.11% rise.