BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks edged higher on Friday, with banks leading the surge after finance ministers from 19 nations finalized plans to get Greece out of its eight-year bailout program and a top lawmaker in Italy's far-right League party reportedly said the government doesn't want to exit the euro.
Investors also cheered flash data from IHS Markit showing that the euro area private sector expanded at a faster pace in June.
The composite output index rose unexpectedly to 54.8 from 54.1 in May. The score was forecast to fall to 53.9.
While an improvement was reported from the 18-month low seen in May, the June reading represented the second-weakest expansion seen over the past 17 months.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet in Vienna today and expectations remain high that the oil cartel will reach some sort of agreement on raising oil output.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.6 percent at 383.02 in late opening deals after declining 0.9 percent on Thursday.
The German DAX was moving up 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 index was climbing 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was rising 0.7 percent.
Italian banking group BPER Banca jumped over 7 percent while Banco BPM rallied 3.7 percent. Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Barclays all rose over 1 percent.
Global aerospace major Airbus advanced 1.5 percent after saying it is accelerating measures to reduce risks stemming from Brexit.
BP Plc shares rose about 1 percent in London and Tullow Oil rallied nearly 2 percent as oil prices rose more than 1 percent ahead of the OPEC meet outcome.
House builders were moving higher, with Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Persimmon all rising around 1 percent.
Automakers continued to suffer on concerns over an intensifying trade spat between the European Union and the U.S. BMW and Daimler fell around 1 percent each.
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