European Markets Finished Modestly To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Friday's session slightly to the upside. The strong rally on Wall Street yesterday and the positive performance of the Asian markets translated into early strength in Europe. However, the markets pared their gains ahead of the open of the U.S. equity markets and held those levels for the remainder of the session.

Healthcare and energy stock were among the best performing stocks Friday. Meanwhile, corporate financial news was also in focus at the end of the trading week. Shares of Carrefour surged on sales data, while Hugo Boss dropped after lowering its forecast and Nestle pulled back on disappointing sales.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased 0.81 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.92 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed 0.39 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.59 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. gained 0.62 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.72 percent.

In Frankfurt, Volkswagen declined 2.10 percent after announcing recalls in Europe. Daimler fell 0.71 percent and BMW lost 0.31 percent.

Hugo Boss cut its sales and earnings forecasts for 2015, citing weak third-quarter sales in China and the U.S. The stock plunged 11.07 percent.

RWE gained 2.99 percent and E.ON finished up by 1.70 percent.

Commerzbank climbed 2.05 percent and Deutsche Bank increased 1.74 percent.

In Paris, Carrefour climbed 6.60 percent after announcing sales data.

However, Gucci owner Kering and luxury group LVMH dropped by 2.79 percent and 1.09 percent respectively.

In London, Rio Tinto weakened by 0.82 percent. The company's third-quarter iron-ore production rose 8 percent sequentially. However, quarterly total mined copper production decreased 24 percent from last year to 115 million tons, primarily due to lower output at Kennecott Utah and Escondida mines.

AstraZeneca recovered from early losses and finished up by 0.61 percent. The company received a complete response letter from the U.S. FDA regarding combination of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin for the treatment of adult patients with type 2 diabetes. The letter states that more clinical data is required to support its new drug application.

Nestle fell 1.86 percent in Zurich. The foods giant reported lower net sales in its nine-month period, impacted by the withdrawal of Maggi noodles in India and slower than expected recovery in China. Nestle also cut its organic growth target.

Eurozone inflation turned negative as initially estimated in September, final data from Eurostat showed Friday. Consumer prices fell 0.1 percent in September from prior year, offsetting a 0.1 percent rise in August. The rate matched flash estimate published on September 30.

Eurozone's trade surplus in August declined more-than-forecast from the previous month, as exports declined and imports increased, figures from Eurostat showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted trade surplus fell to EUR 19.8 billion from EUR 22.4 billion in July. Economists had expected EUR 22.1 billion surplus.

Largely reflecting a steep drop in mining output, the Federal Reserve released a report on Friday showing a modest decrease in U.S. industrial production in the month of September. The report said industrial production fell by 0.2 percent in September after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in August.

Economists had expected production to drop by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.

After reporting a notable deterioration in U.S consumer sentiment in the previous month, the University of Michigan released a report on Friday showing that sentiment has improved much more than anticipated in the month of October.

The University of Michigan said the preliminary reading on its consumer sentiment index for October came in at 92.1 compared to the final September reading of 87.2. Economists had expected the index to rise to 89.5.