The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.5% at 514.5 points as of 0710 GMT, with France’s CAC 40 up 0.3% after consumer prices in the region’s second-largest economy rose 2.2% year-on-year in August.
Miners boosted the market, rising 0.6%, as copper prices hit a two-week high on buying ahead of a Chinese holiday and amid hopes of a stimulus after President Xi Jinping pushed for measures to boost economic growth.
After the European Central Bank (ECB) cut its deposit rate to 3.5% on Thursday, investors are now betting on the size and extent of a rate cut by the US central bank next week, with money markets seeing a 43% chance for 50. 18 bps decrease on September.
“I think there’s a strong case for 50,” said Bill Dudley, former chief of the New York Fed.
AstraZeneca was the top loser, down 1.1%, while Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to “sell” and cut its price target on Friday.
Shares in Denmark’s DSV rose 2.4% after the transportation and logistics services operator announced plans to invest nearly one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in Germany over the next three to five years as the new owner of Deutsche Bahn’s logistics unit Schenker.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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