LONDON: Europe's main stock markets finished the trading week on a high, closing significantly higher Friday on data showing eurozone consumers in bullish mood and comments from China's prime minister on stimulus.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shrugged off weaker-than-expected British growth data to close up 0.41 percent to 6,615.58 points.
In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.74 percent to 4,411.26 points, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 1.44 percent to finish at 9,587.19 points.
Investors were cheered by a new survey from the European Commission, showing that eurozone consumers and businesses have shrugged off the Crimea crisis and are at their most confident for two and a half years.
The Commission's index of consumer and business sentiment for March rose for the 11th month in a row, hitting a 30-month high of 102.4 points.
Sentiment rose strongly in the countries on the edge of the eurozone where the debt crisis hit hardest. The index was up 2.2 points in Spain and 1.3 points in Italy.
"Europe got another boost from China today as Premier Li Keqiang announced plans for fiscal and monetary stimulus to maintain China's targeted 7.5 percent growth rate," said CMC Markets UK analyst Jasper Lawler.
Wall Street also moved sharply higher, driven by better-than-expected data on US consumer income and spending.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.67 percent to 16,372.50 points in midday trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.70 percent to reach 1,861.94 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained 0.77 percent to stand at 4,183.22.
Consumer incomes and spending both beat market expectations, rising 0.3 percent in February.
For the market, the data signalled the economy continues to grow but that spending and inflation are low enough to confirm forecasts for an Federal Reserve interest rate hike not before mid-2015.
Separate data showed that Britain's economy expanded by 1.7 percent last year, down slightly from a previous estimate, but remained the strongest growth since before the financial crisis.
Gross domestic product for 2013 was down from a previous estimate of 1.8 percent, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
GDP grew by an unrevised 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared with activity in the previous three month period, the ONS added.
European stocks had closed mostly lower on Thursday, snapping a two-day winning streak, as fresh concerns over Ukraine came to the fore and traders cashed in profits from the recent rally.
Asian equities moved higher in quiet trade on Friday, with Tokyo buoyed by another pick-up in Japanese inflation, traders said. Hong Kong gained 1.06 percent.
Euro bounces:
In foreign exchange trading on Friday, the euro slid to a one-month low of $1.3705, but later climbed to $1.3747, up from $1.3742 late on Thursday in New York.
The dollar rose to 102.89 yen from 102.17 yen on Thursday. The British pound firm to 1.2099 euros from 1.2089 on Thursday and to $1.6635 from $1.6610.
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold dipped to $1,293.30 an ounce from $1,296 on Thursday.
Heading into the weekend, investors were keeping an eye on the release next week of key data from China, the United States and Japan.
On the corporate front, shares in British insurers slumped on Friday as regulators revealed plans for a review of charges and restrictions on 30 million policies sold between the 1970s and 2000.
Resolution Limited tumbled 7.12 percent to 296.3 pence, Legal & General slumped 3.48 percent to 205 pence, Aviva fell 2.75 percent to 470.2 pence and Prudential shed 2.62 percent to 1.280.5 pence.
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