European markets closed a choppy session moderately higher Friday, with telecom stocks leading the gainers.
Positive cues from Wall Street, following a smaller-than-expected downward revision to the US second-quarter GDP, underpinned sentiment.
The UK's FTSE 100 Index closed up 45.72 points or 0.88% at 5201.56; the French CAC 40 gained 32.41 points or 0.93% to 3507.44; and the German DAX Index added 38.59 points or 0.65% to 5951.17.
On weekly basis, the FTSE 100 ended marginally higher, while the French and German indices suffered their third successive loss.
In the US, the Dow and the S&P 500 are up over 1% each, and the Nasdaq is gaining 0.88%.
The US Commerce Department revised down its estimate of the nation's GDP growth in the second quarter to 1.6% from the advance estimate of 2.4%, though the revision was relatively less severe compared to economists' expectations.
Crude oil for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange added $0.44 to $73.80 a barrel,
and December gold edged up $4.60 to $1242.30 an ounce.
In economic news from Europe, the UK Gross domestic product rose 1.2% in the second quarter, an upward revision from the initial estimate of a 1.1% growth and following a 0.3% growth in the first quarter. The pace of economic growth was the fastest since 2001.
Unemployment rate in Hungary edged down to 11% in the May - July quarter from 11.1% in the previous three months, while economists expected the rate to remain unchanged.
Spanish retail sales fell 2.4% year-on-year in July on a calendar-adjusted basis, following a 0.9% increase in June.
Telecom firms, insurers and drug makers led the gainers in London.
Cable & Wireless Worldwide rose 5.67%, Vodafone gathered 2.77% and BT Group added 2.75%.
Aegis Group ended up 0.27%. The communications and market research firm reported a pre-tax profit of GBP 25.3 million for the first half, up from GBP 6.6 million in the prior-year period.
Life insurance providers Prudential and Old Mutual gained over 2% each, and Standard Life moved up 1.84%.
Among pharmaceutical stocks, Shire gathered 1.88%, GlaxoSmithKline added 1.28% and AstraZeneca gained 0.76%.
Power company Aggreko rose 3% and packaging firm Bunzl ended up 2.48%.
Tullow Oil fell 3.81% on reports that the Ugandan Government withdrew one of its production licenses.
BP lost 1.54%, while Essar Energy added 2.33% and Royal Dutch Shell gained 1.43%.
Mining stocks were mixed. Xstrata rose 1.73% and Rio Tinto gathered 1.46%, while BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Vedanta Resources ended in the red.
Among lenders, Standard Chartered added 1.64% and Lloyds Banking Group moved up 1.10%. However, Royal Bank of Scotland shed 0.79%.
In Paris, Lagardere dropped 1.22%. The media group reported a decline in half-yearly profit to EUR 80 million from EUR 318 million in the year-ago period, but revised up its full-year guidance .
Meanwhile, rival Vivendi advanced 4.26%.
Aerospace and defence group EADS lost 3.14% amid a media report that its Airbus unit lowered production targets for its A350 airliner
Semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics fell 3.85% and IT service firm Capgemini gave in 0.85%.
On the positive side, France Telecom gathered 2.29%.
ArcelorMittal added 1.82% and construction firm Vinci rose 3%.
Grocery chain Carrefour gained 3.26% and luxury goods retailer PPR ended up 1.97%.
Banking stocks edged higher. Credit Agricole added 0.73%, Societe Generale moved up 0.82% and BNP Paribas gathered 0.63%.
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom advanced 2.16%, electronic equipment maker Siemens gained 1.34% and diversified retailer Metro rose 2.42%.
Among automakers, MAN gathered 1.27%, Daimler added 0.80% and BMW edged up 0.19%.
Utilities E.ON and RWE also ended higher.
Deutsche Bank edged up 0.14%, while Commerzbank lost 1.88%.
In the chemical sector, K + S eased 0.59% whereas BASF gained 0.28% and Bayer added 0.89%.
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