European Shares Seen Opening Up On China Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks are likely to open higher on Friday after China reported industrial production and retail sales figures for August that topped forecasts.

Industrial production posted an annual increase of 4.5 percent, while analysts expected output to climb moderately by 3.9 percent after a 3.7 percent increase in July.

Likewise, growth in retail sales improved to 4.6 percent in August from 2.5 percent in the previous month. This was also better than economists' forecast of 3.0 percent.

During January to August period, fixed asset investment increased 3.2 percent from the same period last year - slightly weaker than the expected 3.3 percent.

A combination of dovish remarks by the European Central Bank (ECB) and optimism around new stimulus measures from China also underpinned investor sentiment.

Asian markets advanced while the euro sagged following the ECB's dovish rate hike on Thursday.

China's yuan climbed to its strongest in two weeks against the dollar as promising economic data and signs of more government support boosted recovery hopes.

Gold edged up on dollar weakness while oil jumped about 1 percent and headed for a third consecutive week of gains.

Another batch of U.S. economic data may influence trading later in the day, with reports on import and export prices, industrial production and consumer sentiment due.

U.S. stocks posted strong gains overnight as investors cheered better-than-expected retail sales data and the blowout debut of chip designer Arm.

A batch of economic data showed an uptick for producer price inflation, solid retail sales and an uptick in weekly jobless claims.

The Dow gained 1 percent to notch its biggest gain in a month, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 both rose around 0.8 percent.

European stocks rose sharply on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) piled on a 10th straight interest-rate increase but signaled a potential end to its rate-hike campaign aimed at curbing inflation.

The pan European STOXX 600 advanced 1.5 percent. The German DAX rallied 1 percent, France's CAC 40 jumped 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 soared 2 percent.