European Shares Mixed Ahead Of US Bank Earnings

(RTTNews) - European stocks were mixed on Friday but were on track to post their biggest weekly percentage gain in more than three months on easing worries about inflation and interest-rate hikes.

Traders awaited cues from the U.S. earnings season, with financial giants Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo due to release their quarterly results before the start of trading.

The pan European STOXX 600 was marginally higher at 461.48 but was on track for a 3 percent weekly gain, marking its best week since the end of March. The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, while France's CAC 40 edged up 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.1 percent.

The euro touched a fresh 16-month peak against a weakening dollar while Eurozone government bond yields were little changed after a powerful two-day rally.

Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia plunged nearly 10 percent after lowering its full-year outlook.

Ericsson slumped over 8 percent. The Swedish multinational company has posted a second quarter net loss of 0.6 billion Swedish kronor compared to profit of 4.7 billion kronor, prior year, primarily due to restructuring charges.

Swedish property group SBB plummeted 11 percent after posting a wider pre-tax loss in the second quarter.

FLSmidth, a Danish engineering company, rose over 1 percent after selling its Advanced Filtration Technologies business to Micronics, a provider of industrial filtration solutions.

McBride shares soared 20 percent in London after the consumer goods manufacturer confirmed that it will report a return to profitability for fiscal 2023.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry edged up slightly after revealing a strong start to its financial year.

Investment group Ashmore plunged nearly 7 percent after reporting a 3 percent drop in assets under management from the previous quarter.

ZOO Digital Group shares lost 29 percent after the cloud services provider for the entertainment industry announced that it expects lower first-quarter revenues than the previous year.