BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were moving higher on Friday as solid economic data from Germany and the U.K. helped ease concerns over growth and investors remained hopeful of a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks.
Investors shrugged off the U.S. decision to hike duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese products.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.6 percent at 378.32 after losing 1.7 percent in the previous session.
The German DAX was rising 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 index was up 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was adding half a percent.
Swiss engineering firm ABB rose nearly 2 percent after its Power Grids business won a triple digit million-euro order from the Aibel/Keppel FELS consortium.
Spanish multinational telecommunications company Telefonica shed 0.7 percent despite reporting a rise in first-quarter profit and backing guidance for the year.
Altice Europe soared 6 percent. The Netherlands-based company signaled the turnaround of his telecoms and cables group was underway.
IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia, jumped 3.9 percent after reiterating its 2019 profit would be 'in line' with last year.
Provident Financial rose 1.4 percent after its board strongly urged its shareholders to take no action in relation to Non-Standard Finance offer.
Air France KLM gained 0.6 percent after the French carrier reported over 9 percent rise in passenger traffic across the group last month.
GEA Group shares soared 9 percent in Frankfurt. The company said it is working on plans to restructure the future organization of the group, which is to be communicated on June 24.
In economic releases, official data showed Germany's exports rebounded at the fastest pace in three months in March, defying expectations for further decline.
Exports rose 1.5 percent month-on-month in March, after a revised 1.2 percent fall in February, adding strength to hopes that the biggest euro area economy performed strongly in the first three months of the year, after narrowly escaping a recession in the previous quarter.
This was the fastest growth since last December, when exports rose 1.5 percent.
Britain's economy got a sharp one-off boost in the first three months of 2019, boosted by companies stockpiling ahead of Brexit, another report showed.
GDP grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter, outpacing the 0.2 percent expansion seen in the final three months of 2018.
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