Investing.com - European stocks advanced in Friday trade, gaining for the fourth day in a row on the strength of banking issues as European finance officials met to discuss regional debt contagion.
At the end of Friday’s European session, the STOXX 50 Index added 0.17% to 2,159.28, Britain’s FTSE rose 0.58% to 5,368.41, and Germany’s DAX climbed 1.18% to close at 5,573.51.
France’s CAC 40 bucked the regional trend, slipping 0.47% to end the session at 3.031.08.
Speaking from a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Poland Friday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said a decision on the next round of Greek aid would be made in October.
Juncker added that officials had made progress on a dispute involving Finland’s demands that it receive collateral in return for its support of a second Greek bailout.
Earlier, the ECB announced it would be providing U.S. dollar loans to European banks in order to provide them with enough cash through the end of the year, in a coordinated effort along with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank.
Also attending the meeting was U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who urged finance ministers to work together with the European Central Bank to address the region’s debt crisis and embellish the power of the current rescue fund.
Banks led issues in London, with Barclays PLC adding 3.4%, Deutsche Bank AG climbed 0.2% and Societe General SA surged 3.43%.
Shares of Swiss bank UBS AG rebounded by 5.2% a day after the company announced a reported USD2 billion loss from unauthorized trade in its investment bank division.
Germany’s largest utility, EON AG rose 3.5% after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the company from overweight to neutral.
Meanwhile in afternoon trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.46% to 11,485.90, the Nasdaq Composite Index was lifted 0.19% to 2,611.94 and the S&P 500 was higher by 0.18% at 1,211.28.