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By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares looked set to end a choppy week with Friday gains, after better-than-expected industrial production data in Europe and a rise in retail sales in the U.S. bolstered investor sentiment.
The Stoxx 600 Europe index (ST:SXXP 258.22, +0.62, +0.24%) rose 0.5% to 258.85, the second day of gains in five sessions for the equity gauge.
With investors fretting about economic recovery, the year-to-date gains for the index now stand at about 2% -- a small portion of its 12-month advance of 55%.
Worries appeared to fade somewhat on Friday after industrial production data from the 16-nation euro zone rose 1.7% in January and data showed U.S. retail sales climbed 0.3% in February. Read more on industrial production. Read more on U.S. retail sales.
European equity strategists at Citigroup said although macro-level risks haven't gone away, "undemanding valuations" and companies well positioned for investment mean "decent support" for share prices.
European industrials were notably higher, with shares of Siemens (DE:SIE 68.40, +1.22, +1.82%) (SI 93.94, +1.53, +1.66%) trading up 2.6% and ABB (CH:ABBN 22.50, +0.21, +0.92%) (ABB 21.09, +0.21, +1.00%) ahead by 1.4%.
Overall, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 5,944, +15.11, +0.26%) rose 0.6% on the session to 5,964.60, while the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,925, -4.01, -0.10%) climbed 0.3% to 3,938.48 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,623, +5.66, +0.10%) traded up 0.3% at 5,636.38.
Asian shares ended mixed with stocks in Tokyo higher after speculation that the Bank of Japan could intervene in the currency markets. Read more on Asia Markets.
U.S. stocks were narrowly following the retail sales data and, separately, a lackluster report on consumer sentiment for March.
Banks helped U.S. stocks to gain on Thursday. "Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit, presented a very positive outlook for the group," said analysts at Dolmen Securities. "[That] will support financials," they added.
Banks were higher in Europe on Friday, with shares of Societe Generale (UK:GLE 134.45, +0.45, +0.34%) up 0.9% and BBVA (ES:BBVA 10.56, -0.01, -0.09%) up 0.8%.
After the data on euro-zone industrial output, the common currency rose 0.5% to $1.3745, in turn boosting commodity futures and mining shares. Read more on currencies.
In London, shares of copper miner Vedanta Resources (UK:VED 2,756, +66.00, +2.46%) rose 2.9% as diversified miner Anglo American (UK:AAL 2,711, +29.00, +1.08%) climbed 1.5%.
In the auto sector, Volkswagen (DE:VOW3 69.93, +1.68, +2.46%) preference shares were up 3.7%, building on earnings-related gains made in the previous session.
