FILE PHOTO - A view of a DAX display board at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. (is associated with: «European Stocks close on firm note») Hannes P Albert/dpa

FILE PHOTO – A view of a DAX display board at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. (is associated with: «European Stocks close on firm note») Hannes P Albert/dpa

European stocks closed on a strong note on Friday despite lingering concerns about Middle East tensions, as some upbeat earnings updates and preliminary PMI data from the region helped lift sentiment. Weak oil prices contributed as well to the positive mood in the markets.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.82%. The UK’s FTSE 100 ended 0.91% up, Germany’s DAX moved up 1.36% and France’s CAC 40 closed with a gain of 0.88%, while Switzerland’s SMI settled 0.79% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher. Denmark edged up marginally.

Iceland, Norway and Portugal ended weak, while Austria and Poland settled flat.

In the UK market, Relx, The Sage Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, JD Sports Fashion, Metlen Energy & Metals, Experian, 3i Group and Informa gained 3%-5%.

Burberry Group, Weir Group, IAG, Segro, Croda International, Anglo-American Plc., Hiscox, LSEG, Investec, British Land and Intercontinental Hotels Group also moved up sharply.

HSBC Holdings moved up after the lender agreed to sell its Singapore life and health insurance business to Allianz.

Shares of polymer producer Victrex climbed 2% after the company announced some changes in the management.

Shares of customized electronics designer and manufacturer DiscoverIE zoomed 13% after the company announced a 31% surge in orders and reported a 6% jump in sales in the first quarter, compared to a year ago.

Renishaw jumped nearly 5% after the company said it expects annual profit to come in ahead of expectations.

Airtel Africa dropped 3.3%. BP and Shell drifted down 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively. Vodafone Group, Babcock International and Halma also ended notably lower.

In the German market, SAP soared nearly 10% after posting higher revenue in its latest quarter. The company’s bottom line came in at €2.209 billion, or €1.89 per share. This compares with €1.749 billion, or €1.45 per share, last year.

Siemens Healthineers moved up 3%. Fresenius, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Boerse, Vonovia, MTU Aero Engines, Scout24, Rheinmetall, Symrise, Hannover RE, Siemens, Zalando, Henkel, Deutsche Post, Continental, Commerzbank, Heidelberg Materials and Deutsche Telekom gained 1%-2.3%.

Volkswagen dropped about 2% after the German carmaker reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit and cut its sales and car delivery forecasts for the year.

Infineon, Adidas and Porsche Automobil Holding also ended notably lower.

In the French market, Dassault Systèmes jumped 8%. Capgemini rallied 4.5%. Teleperformance surged 3.6%.

Safran, Crédit Agricole, Publicis Groupe, Danone, BNP Paribas, Accor, ArcelorMittal, Société Générale, Saint-Gobain, LVMH, L’Oréal, Kering, Hermes International, Pernod Ricard and Schneider Electric gained 1%-3%.

Carrefour and STMicroelectronics lost about 4.8% and 2.1%, respectively.

Sanofi drifted lower by about 0.4% after it decided to stop the clinical development of amlitelimab for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis following mixed phase 3 trial results.

In economic news, the S&P Global Flash Germany Composite PMI rose to 51.2 in July 2026 from 49.5 in June, beating forecasts of 49.8. It is the highest reading in four months, with the private sector activity moving back to growth after three straight months of contraction,

Germany’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.2 in July 2026 from 50.3 in June, well above market expectations of 50.5, according to a preliminary estimate. Meanwhile, the S&P Global Flash Services PMI rose to 49.6 in July 2026 from 48.6 in June, marking a four-month high and beating market expectations of 49, according to preliminary estimates.

A report from GfK Group said Germany’s GfK Consumer Climate Indicator edged down to -29.6 heading into August from a revised -29.3 in July, remaining at a low-level and missing expectations of an improvement to -28.5.

Data from S&P Global showed, France’s S&P Global Flash Composite PMI rose to 49.6 in July from 47.2 in the previous month, signalling the softest contraction since the Middle East conflict began in February.

Services sector PMI rose to a seven-month high of 49.8 from 46.8 in June, supported by the first increase in demand since November. In contrast, manufacturing activity fell to 48.8 from 49.1, reflecting softer demand conditions.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed retail sales in the UK increased 1% in June, following a rise of 1.2% in May. Economists had forecast sales to fall 0.3% in June.

Excluding auto fuel, retail sales rose at a slower pace of 1.1% after climbing 1.2% in the prior month. Sales were forecast to fall 0.4%.

On a yearly basis, retail sales increased 4.2% from the previous year, faster than the 3.5% increase seen in May. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales growth accelerated to 5.4% from 4.9% in May.