European Markets Finished Higher After Strong U.S. Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Friday's session in the green. The markets were rather subdued in early trade, but reached their intraday high around immediately following the release of the better than expected U.S. jobs report. Those gains quickly began to erode, but firmed up after the U.S. markets began to break out to the upside.

Mining and resource stocks were among the best performing stocks at the end of the week, thanks to rising metal prices. Financial stocks also turned in a solid performance and energy stocks were up as crude oil prices logged modest gains.

Employment in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of February, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday, although the report also showed a modest drop in employee wages.

The report said total non-farm employment jumped by 242,000 jobs in February compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 190,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate was subsequently unchanged from the previous month at 4.9 percent, holding at its lowest level since February of 2008. The unchanged reading on unemployment matched estimates.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased 0.81 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.62 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed 0.74 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.92 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 1 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.40 percent.

In Frankfurt, Volkswagen increased 4.18 percent and BMW added 1.84 percent. Shares of Daimler also finished higher by 0.98 percent.

Deutsche Bank gained 1.84 percent and Commerzbank advanced 1.09 percent.

ThyssenKrupp climbed 3.15 percent and Salzgitter rose 5.37 percent.

In Paris, hotel group Accor rose 0.84 percent after denying media reports that it was in talks to buy Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.

Societe Generale increased 1.86 percent and BNP Paribas climbed 1.64 percent. Credit Agricole closed up by 0.93 percent.

Technip advanced 5.26 percent and Total added 1.13 percent.

In London, advertising group WPP fell 0.52 percent. Chief Executive Martin Sorrell sounded a little bit cautious about the outlook despite the company posting 4.2 percent annual growth in like-for-like revenue for January, ahead of budget.

Miners turned in a strong performance on rising metal prices. Anglo American surged 11.07 percent and BHP Billiton jumped 9.12 percent. Glencore leaped 25.87 percent and Antofagasta advanced 7.73 percent. Rio Tinto gained 5.86 percent and Randgold Resources rose 4.42 percent.

Standard Chartered climbed 3.44 percent and Barclays gained 4.81 percent. HSBC rose 0.68 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland increased 0.70 percent.

Gemalto soared 9.12 percent in Amsterdam after its annual net profit beat expectations.

Germany's construction sector expanded at the fastest pace in nearly five years in February on housing activity, survey data from Markit Economics showed Friday. The construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 59.6 in February. The pace of expansion accelerated to the most marked since March 2011.

Italy's economic growth slowed as initially estimated in the three months ended December, latest figures from the statistical office Istat showed Friday. Gross domestic product rose 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, confirming the flash data, slower than the 0.2 percent hike in the previous quarter.

Partly reflecting a notable decrease in the value of exports, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing that the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of January. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $45.7 billion in January from a revised $44.7 billion in December.

Economists had expected the deficit to edge up to $43.9 billion from the $43.4 billion originally reported for the previous month.