Major European Markets Up Slightly In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - European stocks are slightly higher in cautious trade on Friday, with investors reacting to quarterly earnings updates and looking ahead to interest rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, due next week.

The Fed's monetary policy announcement is due next Wednesday. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to raise rates by 50 basis points.

The BoE and the ECB are also likely to hike interest rates by 50 basis points. The central banks's views on future rate hikes and inflation outlook will be in focus.

The pan European Stoxx 600 is gaining about 0.2%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 is up 0.19%, Germany's DAX is climbing 0.35% and France's CAC 40 is rising 0.3%. Switzerland's SMI is up 0.05%.

In the UK market, Sainsbury (J) is up 4.5%. Shell is gaining nearly 2% and BP is up 1.8%. Beazley, Burberry Group, Unite Group, Ashtead Group, Persimmon, Segro and GSK are up 1 to 1.5%.

Rolls-Royce Holdings is declining more than 3%. Smurfit Kappa Group, Diageo, Flutter Entertainment, Smith (DS) and Experian are lower by 1 to 1.6%.

In the German market, HeidelbergCement is gaining about 2.5%. Adidas is surging 2.15% and Zalando is up nearly 2%.

Siemens Energy, Porsche, Volkswagen, Continental, Daimler and Vonovia are notably higher. Sartorius is down 2.7%.

In Paris, Kering is up nearly 2%. Societe Generale, Saint Gobain, ArcelorMittal, Vivendi and Danone are rising 1 to 2%.

In the German market, Kering surged nearly 2%. Societe Generale gained 1.8%, while Saint Gobain and ArcelorMittal both advanced about 1.5%. Vivendi and Danone also ended notably higher.

Pernod Ricard, Essilor and Dassault Systemes lost 1.3 to 1.7%.

Pernod Ricard, Airbus Group, Essilor and Dassault Systemes are up 1 to 1.8%.

In economic news, data released by the European Central Bank showed lending to households rising only by 3.8% versus the growth of 4.1% in the previous period and. Growth in loans to companies dropped to 6.3%, from 8.3% growth in the prior period.