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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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.