European stocks open higher, eyes on Ifo report; Dax up 0.21%

Investing.com - European stocks opened higher on Friday, as the U.S. economy is picking up supported equity markets, while investors awaited the release of German data later in the trading session.

During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.24%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.50%, while Germany’s DAX 30 added 0.21%.

Equity markets found support after preliminary data on Thursday showed that U.S. manufacturing activity improved to an eight-month high of 54.3 in November from a reading of 51.8 in October.

A separate report showed that the number of people filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, beating expectations for a decline of 9,000.

In the euro zone, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi downplayed speculation that the bank was actively considering whether to cut deposit rates into negative territory.

Financial stocks were mixed, as French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale climbed 0.67% and 0.71%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank declined 0.61%.

Among peripheral lenders, Spanish banks Banco Santander and BBVA rallied 1.03% and 1.26% respectively, while Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit eased 0.09% and 0.05%.

Elsewhere, Novartis surged 2.07% after saying it plans to buy back USD5 billion of stock over two years and said it will expand in areas such as treatments for skin and heart diseases.

Adding to gains, Solarworld saw shares soar 7.19% amid reports the German solar panel maker will announce the takeover of Bosch Solar Energy next week.

In London, FTSE 100 rose 0.38%, led by Whitbread, whose shares surged 3.49% after JP Morgan raised the stock to "overweight" from "neutral".

Financial stocks were also mostly higher, as Lloyds Banking edged up 0.08% and Barclays climbed 0.57%, while the Royal Bank of Scotland rallied 0.98%. HSBC Holdings underperformed however, sliding 0.38%.

Meanwhile, mining stocks were on the downside. Shares in Rio Tinto slipped 0.10% and Glencore Xstrata dropped 0.38%, while Fresnillo and Ransgold Resources plummeted 1.42% and 2.42% respectively.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.14% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.07% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.17% increase.

Later in the day, the Ifo Institute was to publish a report on German business climate.