European Shares Inch Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - European stocks were modestly higher on Friday as investors braced for the key U.S. jobs reading due later in the day and French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's confidence vote on Monday.

Consensus forecasts peg nonfarm payrolls having grown 75,000 in August, which would mark a fourth straight month of job growth below 100,000. The jobless rate is seen rising to 4.3 percent, which would mark the highest level since 2021.

Media reports suggest that French President Emmanuel Macron wants to move quickly to name a new prime minister following the government's likely collapse on Monday.

Meanwhile, Germany's factory orders declined for the third straight month in July, figures from Destatis revealed.

New orders fell 2.9 percent month-on-month in July, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent.

The fall was also sharper than the 0.2 percent decrease posted in June. Further, this was the fastest decline since January, when prices dropped 5.4 percent.

Elsewhere, U.K. retail sales rose by 0.6 percent in July against expectations of 0.2 percent, as shoppers splashed out on clothing and footwear, the Office for National Statistics reported.

U.K. house prices rose for the third consecutive month on the back of falling mortgage rates and continued wage growth, according to the Halifax house price index data. The value of a typical home rose 0.3 percent in August when compared to July.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 551.83 after rising 0.6 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX rose 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.3 percent.

German utility E.ON gained nearly 1 percent after it signed an agreement to sell its Czech subsidiary Gas Distribution s.r.o. to GasNet.

British housebuilder Berkeley Group rose 1.3 percent after reporting "stable" trading over the first four months of its financial year and maintaining its earnings guidance.

Ashmore Group shares tumbled 3.4 percent. The emerging markets-focused asset manager reported a 15 percent fall in annual profit before tax on the back of weaker fee income.

Tullow Oil soared 9 percent after naming oil and gas industry veteran Ian Perks as its new CEO.

Hexagon AB shares surged 7 percent. U.S. technology firm Cadence has agreed to acquire the Design & Engineering (D&E) division of Hexagon for around €2.7bn ($3.14bn).