European Stocks Close Higher Again

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Friday, extending recent gains, thanks to a stronger-than-expected U.S. non-farm payroll report for the month of June.

Amid easing fears over a recession, markets had gained significant ground in positive territory over the past two sessions. The gains were relatively modest on Friday, but the mood was somewhat bullish towards the end of the session.

The markets were a bit choppy earlier in the day with investors largely making cautious moves, looking ahead to US job data and after the shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The data from the U.S. Labor Department has eased worries about the economy although it has added to concerns about aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 372,000 jobs in June after surging by a revised 384,000 jobs in May. Economists had expected employment to increase by 268,000 jobs compared to the addition of 390,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The report showed the unemployment remained at 3.6% for the fourth month in a row, matching economist estimates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.51%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1%, Germany's DAX surged 1.34% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.44%, while Switzerland's SMI ended 0.68% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Norway, Russia and Spain ended weak.

In the UK market, Centrica, Ashtead Group, Coca-Cola HBC, Smurfit Kappa Group, St. James Place, CRH, Airtel Africa, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Pearson, Harbour Energy, Pershing Square Holdings and WPP gained 2 to 3.1%.

JD Sports Fashion moved up sharply after saying it has appointed Andy Higginson as Chair, effective July 11.

Standard Chartered declined nearly 3%. GSK, HSBC Holdings, Taylor Wimpey, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Scottish Mortgage lost 1 to 2%.

In the French market, Faurecia and Valeo both gained more than 4.5%. Unibail Rodamco, Publicis Groupe, Saint Gobain, Accor, Sodexo, Renault, Vivendi, Carrefour, Engie, Atos, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas advanced 2 to 4%.

L'Oreal dropped nearly 4%. Orange and Hermes International also declined sharply.

In the German market, Porsche Automobil, Volkswagen, HeidelbergCement, Covestro, BASF, MTU Aero Engines and Daimler gained 3 to 6%.

Continental, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Bayer, Zalando, Infineon Technologies, Siemens Healthineers, E.ON and Henkel also posted strong gains.

German real estate company TAG Immobilien plunged sharply after it resolved on €200m fully underwritten capital increase to refinance its acquisition of ROBYG S.A.

In European economic news, France's trade deficit widened in May from April, data from the customs office showed.

Another report from the Bank of France showed that the current account deficit increased in May mainly due to the rising goods deficit.

The trade gap increased to EUR 12.99 billion from EUR 12.71 billion in April. In the same month last year, the shortfall was EUR 6.74 billion. Exports gained 1.5% on a monthly basis and imports advanced 1.6% in May.