European shares reversed early losses on Friday as miners and energy stocks rose on firm commodity prices, with focus now shifting to speeches from major central bank heads at the Jackson Hole symposium in the United States.
The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, and was on track for its first weekly gain in four.
Europe’s energy sector and miners added 0.9% each, tracking strength in base metals and crude prices.
Investors now await speeches from central bankers, which will be key in assessing the outlook for interest rates amid hopes that a rate tightening cycle nearing its end.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at 1405 GMT, while European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will take the stage at 1900 GMT.
“The market read on Powell’s speech will depend in part on the relative emphasis he puts on the Fed’s data-dependence versus its clear tightening bias in the last set of minutes,” noted strategists at UBS.
ECB policymakers are increasingly concerned about deteriorating growth prospects, and while the debate is still open, momentum for a pause in its rate hikes is building, eight sources with direct knowledge of the discussion told Reuters.
Danish stocks lagged other European bourses as Novo Nordisk, Europe’s second-biggest listed firm, eased 1.4%, falling for the second straight session.
The STOXX 600 is headed for a weekly gain of nearly 1% as chipmakers rallied this week leading up to the quarterly results of US chipmaker Nvidia on Wednesday, while rising commodity prices also offered support.
The basic resources sector is on track to be best performer this week, while retailers are on track to be the worst.
On Friday’s data front, official data showed the German economy stagnated in the second quarter compared with the previous three months, following a winter recession.
A separate survey showed German business morale deteriorated further in August for the fourth month in a row. Meanwhile, bond yields across Europe edged higher ahead of the central bankers’ speeches later in the day.
Among individual stocks, Watches of Switzerland Group tumbled 27.5% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 on news Rolex has acquired Swiss-based retailer Bucherer.
Analysts flag that Rolex’s plan likely to act as a cloud over the luxury watch retailer.
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