BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks rose on Friday as investors braced for U.S.-China trade talks scheduled for next week and cheered positive news on the Brexit front.
The euro recovered some lost ground against the dollar after hitting its lowest level in six weeks on Thursday in the wake of ECB President Mario Draghi's downbeat comments.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.6 percent at 357.88 in opening deals after rising 0.2 percent in the previous session.
The German DAX was rising 1.1 percent, France's CAC 40 index was up 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent.
A weaker euro boosted auto stocks, with BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Renault and Peugeot rising 1-4 percent.
Shares of Ericsson rose over 2 percent in Stockholm after the Swedish networking and telecom giant reported sharply narrower net loss in its fourth quarter with increased net sales.
Telia Lietuva, AB, the Lithuanian telecom unit of Swedish telecom company Telia Co., dropped 1 percent after its fourth-quarter profit declined 4.9 percent from last year.
Vodafone Group fell over 2 percent after its revenue growth slowed in the third quarter.
In economic releases, Germany's Ifo business confidence indicator dropped at a faster-than-expected pace in January and fell below 100 for the first time since May 2016, survey results from the Ifo Institute showed.
The Ifo business climate index dropped to 99.1 from 101 in December. Economists had expected the reading to ease to 100.6.
Elsewhere in the U.K., mortgage approvals for house purchase came in slightly higher than expected in December, though the figure was the lowest in three months.
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