BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The major European stock markets finished off the week in mixed fashion, finishing on opposite sides of the unchanged line on Friday.
The markets opened higher on Friday, with Germany and France remaining in the green throughout the session, while London slipped into the red by the end of the day.
The positive sentiment got a boost after the White House said President Donald Trump sees a 'substantial chance of negotiations' and would decide within two weeks whether to authorize a direct U.S. military strike on Iran.
Germany's DAX jumped 293.17 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 23,350.55, while the FTSE in London slipped 17.15 points or 0.20 percent to close at 8,774.65 and the CAC 40 in France added 36.21 points or 0.48 percent to end at 7,589.66.
In Germany, Airbus surged 3.56 percent, while E.ON spiked 2.60 percent, Heidelberg Materials rallied 2.36 percent, Vonovia jumped 1.17 percent, Siemens Energy climbed 1.04 percent, Deutsche Post advanced 0.99 percent, Deutsche Bank collected 0.82 percent, Deutsche Telekom gained 0.30 percent and BASF rose 0.07 percent.
In London, Rentokil soared 1.54 percent, while Spirax Group stumbled 1.45 percent, Rolls-Royce Holdings rallied 1.36 percent, Schroders strengthened 1.11 percent, Airtel Africa dropped 1.05 percent, BAE Systems shed 0.73 percent, Shell and easyJet both lost 0.69 percent, British American Tobacco fell 0.49 percent and Centrica rose 0.30 percent.
In France, Airbus surged 3.55 percent, while Worldline stumbled 2.80 percent, Vivendi rallied 1.05 percent, Carrefour improved 0.91 percent, Societe Generale collected 0.53 percent, Credit Agricole added 0.48 percent, BNP Paribas sank 0.46 percent, Engie gained 0.15 percent and Sanofi rose 0.12 percent.
In economic releases, U.K. retail sales fell 2.7 percent on a monthly basis in May, in contrast to the revised 1.3 percent increase in April, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Sales were forecast to drop 0.5 percent.
Separate set of data revealed that U.K. public sector net borrowing increased in May despite an increase in government receipts. Borrowing increased GBP 0.7 billion from the last year to GBP 17.7 billion.
Elsewhere, German producer prices slid 1.2 percent year-on-year in May, bigger than the 0.9 percent fall in April, Destatis reported. This was the biggest fall since September, when prices were down 1.4 percent.
Euro area consumer sentiment deteriorated unexpectedly in June following a spike in the previous month, the European Commission survey said on Friday, amid the increased uncertainty due to trade tariffs and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The flash consumer confidence index for Eurozone fell to -15.3 from a revised -15.1 in May. Economists had forecast an improvement to -15.0 from the original May reading of -15.2.
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