LONDON: European stock markets shot higher on Friday, with Frankfurt's DAX striking a new record high as a weaker single currency boosts companies' exports from the eurozone.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 0.56 percent to 7,055.98 points in afternoon trading. That level is above its record closing high of 7,037.67 points set last month, and short of the record intra-day high of 7,065.08 points.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped to an all-time hight of 12,390.75 points, before slipping to 12,367.90 in afternoon trading, although it was still a strong 1.66 percent gain from Thursday's close.
The CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.16 percent to 5,217.46 points, a seven-year high.
In foreign exchange, the European single currency slid to $1.0619 from $1.0659 late in New York on Thursday.
"European indices are continuing to push to new record highs ... aided by Greece's repayment of EUR450m to the IMF yesterday," said analyst Craig Erlam at currency trading firm Oanda.
Markus Huber, senior analyst at broker Peregrine & Black, said that "while there has rather been very little new major economic and corporate data overnight eurozone stocks are continuing to benefit from the overall bullish sentiment based on renewed weakness in the euro and ongoing QE (stimulus) by the ECB."
A weaker euro makes eurozone exports cheaper for buyers outside of the single currency bloc.
The dollar has fought back against the euro in recent weeks as markets bet on rises to US interest rates later this year despite a clouded outlook.
Minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting showed a split over when interest rates should again start rising in the world's biggest economy.
Minutes from the March meeting published earlier this week showed that "several (Fed) participants" thought conditions were right for a June hike in the federal funds rate, which has been stuck near zero since late 2008.
Others deemed the economy would not be able to weather a hike until later in the year, while "a couple" said liftoff would remain unlikely until 2016.
While last week's US jobs data "was a big disappointment, the minutes from the Fed's last meeting suggests that they remain in hiking mode and may hike rates at some point this year, even if June now seems like a long shot", said Forex.com analyst Kathleen Brooks.
This week has meanwhile also seen improved optimism over Greece after the embattled eurozone nation made a scheduled 459 million euro ($495 million) loan payment to the IMF on Thursday.
Meanhile in the United States, General Electric's announcement that it will largely exit financial services helped lift US stocks in opening trade Friday as Apple began taking orders for its new watch.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.06 percent to 17,969.04 points after five minutes of trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.16 percent to 2,094.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.12 percent to 4,980.58.
GE surged 6.9 percent after announcing it had reached deals to sell $26.5 billion in real estate assets as part of a plan to pare off most GE Capital assets over the next 24 months.
The industrial conglomerate also announced a new $50 billion share buyback program.
Apple slipped 0.8 percent as the tech giant began taking orders for the Apple Watch. First deliveries will begin in nine countries on April 24.
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