BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were modestly higher on Friday, with hopes of a possible breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade dispute offering some support ahead of the all-important U.S. jobs report due out later in the day.
Sentiment was also boosted after China's central bank proposed to cut the reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions by 50 basis points from Sept. 16 in the latest effort to inject liquidity into an economy facing headwinds to growth.
The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.15 percent at 386.48 after rising 0.7 percent the previous day.
The German DAX was rising 0.3 percent and France's CAC 40 index was moving up 0.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed.
Swiss drug major Roche Group rose 0.8 percent. The company has European Commission approval for Tecentriq (atezolizumab) to treat adults with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
Thyssenkrupp shares rallied 2.4 percent after Finland's Kone said it is considering teaming up with a private equity partner to bid for the German conglomerate's elevator business.
Berkeley Group Holdings rallied 2 percent in London after a positive trading update for the first four months of this new financial year. Rival Barratt Developments advanced 1.5 percent.
Total SA, BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell were moving lower even as oil prices headed for their biggest weekly advance since mid-July.
Engineering business Weir Group jumped 2 percent as it won a 100 million pounds order for Australian magnetite iron ore project.
Ashmore Group advanced 1.6 percent as it delivered strong results for the year on the back of 24 percent AuM growth and continued investment outperformance.
In economic releases, German industrial production fell 0.6 percent in July from June, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent, data from Destatis showed. Nonetheless, the pace of decline slowed from the 1.1 percent fall posted in June.
Eurostat data showed that Euro zone growth halved in the second quarter of this year.
The region's GDP grew 0.2 percent in the second quarter, after a 0.4 percent expansion in the first three months of the year, as Germany's economy shrank and trade as a whole slowed in the quarter.
Britons' one-year ahead inflation expectations rose in August, the latest quarterly Inflation Attitudes Survey from the Bank of England and TNS revealed.
Respondents forecast inflation to rise to 3.3 percent over the coming year compared to the previous forecast of 3.1 percent. Inflation is expected to ease to 3 percent in twelve months after one year.
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