Europe open: Stocks start session higher, boosted by strength on Wall Street

Stocks on the Continent have started the session higher, tracking gains overnight on Wall Street that saw some of the main stockmarket gauges notch-up fresh all-time highs.

Commenting on the situation in markets, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "This rising tide of optimism, despite the fractious back drop of continued scattergun tweeting from President Trump, has had the effect of lifting all boats, pulling Asia markets higher with the Japan Topix hitting a four month high.

"Markets in Europe which had until recently diverged from US markets are also set to enjoy a decent week with the DAX hitting its highest levels this month, as well as a second successive weekly gain, while we've seen European markets open higher this morning taking their cues from last night's US session and this morning's positive Asia session."

As of 0837, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up by 0.47% or 1.81 points to 384.39, alongside a rise of 0.54% or 66.34 points to 12,392.12 for the German Dax and a gain of 0.65% or 139.71 points to 21,525.78.

Nevertheless, data published at the end of the week revealed a much sharper-than-expected slowdown in the single currency bloc's manufacturing sector.

IHS Markit's factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index fell from a reading of 54.7 for August to 52.8 in September (consensus: 54.5)- a 28-month low.

In parallel, euro/dollar was edging just 0.01% higher to 1.17785, although technical analysts at WebFG said recent price action pointed towards a move back towards its 200-day moving average, at 1.1950.