By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets posted gains on
Friday, with banks in the driver's seat, as bargain hunters took
advance of recent market slides to buy beaten-down stocks ahead of
the weekend.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.3% to 284.49, after ending
Thursday's session unchanged.
For the week, the index is on track for a 2.7% loss, following
disappointing macro economic data from the U.S. and China, which
stoked fears of a slowdown in the global recovery. Further
supporting the case for growth concerns, the International Monetary
Fund earlier in the week lowered the global growth outlook to 3.3%
in 2013, down 0.2 percentage points from an earlier forecast.
Growth outlooks for the U.S. and the euro area were also
downgraded.
"This was another case of the IMF reminding the market that the
growth outlook in developed markets is still very challenging and
we've seen it confirmed in the hard data in recent weeks. It has
led to a correction and headlines from this week just further moved
the market in that direction," said James Ashley, economist at RBC
Capital.
"Next week will be interesting with first-quarter GDP data from
the U.S. and the U.K. We also have flash PMIs for the euro zone
that are the first data sets of Q2 and will give us a sense if the
downturn continued. We expect to see a modest improvement," he
added.
With little data to move markets on Friday, the positive moves
came partly as investors were "looking for any excuse to buy into
equities after a rough-and-tumble week in the stock markets," said
Shavaz Dhalla, financial trader at Spreadex in a note.
Most Asia markets closed in positive territory, while U.S.
traded broadly higher.
Back in Europe, shares of Eurasian Natural Resources Corp.
soared 27%, after one of the miner's founding shareholders
Alexander Machkevitch said he is considering making a bid for the
company.
Shares of Kazakhmys PLC , which owns a 26% stake in ENRC,
rallied 24%.
Another miner, Anglo American PLC rose 2% in London, after the
firm said first-quarter output was higher across most commodities
including copper, iron ore and diamonds.
Other miners were also showing upbeat performances, with Vedanta
Resources PLC adding 4.9% and heavyweight Rio Tinto PLC . (RIO) up
0.7%. The mining sector was earlier in the week among major
decliners, hammered by slow-growth indications and a selloff in
gold and silver prices.
Metals prices were mostly higher on Friday.
The FTSE 100 index rose 0.4% to 6,266.80, on track to break a
five-day losing streak, with shares of heavyweight bank HSBC
Holdings PLC (HBC) added 1.9%.
In Italy, banks were also on the rise. Shares of Banca Popolare
di Milano Scarl climbed 3.9%, Mediobanca Banca di Credito
Finanziario SpA gained 4.5% and UniCredit SpA rose 3.7%. The FTSE
MIB index rallied 1.6% to 15,732.91.
In Germany, Commerzbank AG , however, dropped 3%, as the bank
said it expects to post a first-quarter loss due to already
announced expenses related to job cuts.
Software firm SAP AG dropped 3.6%, after reporting a 7% rise in
first-quarter revenue, below market expectations.
The DAX 30 index lost 0.6% to 7,426.20, on track for a six
straight day of losses.
France's CAC 40 index picked up 1% to 3,634.65.
Shares of L'Oréal SA jumped 4.3%, after the beauty-products firm
late Thursday posted first-quarter sales ahead of analysts'
expectation and said it made a solid start to the year.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMHF) rose 1.7%, after
Goldman Sachs added the luxury-goods firm to its conviction buy
list.
BNP Paribas SA rose 1.2% in Paris, while Société Générale SA
picked up 1.1%.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires