Europe close: Stocks rally into the close after remarks from Fed's Kaplan
European shares rallied into the end of trading on Friday after a top US central bank official said he might need to reconsider his policy bias "somewhat", depending on the impact of the pandemic on economic growth.
According to Robert Kaplan, the head of the Dallas Fed, the Delta variant of Covid-19 was unfolding quickly and while it was not yet having a big impact, it was hurting firms' ability to find workers due to fears of possible infection.
Boosted by those remarks, the pan-European Stoxx 600 rose from its lows of the session and was up 0.33% to 468.80 by the close.
"Equity markets have staged yet another rebound, posting gains on the final day of the week," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"2021 continues to be the year of small dips, in stark contrast to 2020. After just a three day drop from the record high for the S&P 500 the buyers have decided that enough is enough, and have stepped in to keep the bounce from yesterday’s lows going."
Germany's DAX meanwhile edged up 0.27% to 15,808.04, even as data showed producer prices jumped 10.4% year-on-year in July. Economists had expected a rise of 9.2%.
Milan's FTSE Mib was the lone faller from among the main European stock market indices, drifting down by 0.04% to 25,918.27, although at one point in the session it traded down by about 1%.
The UK's FTSE 100 was 0.41% higher despite an unexpected fall in July retail sales as people spent less on groceries and more on going out and as the boost from the Euros faded, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
In equity news, UK food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer surged to the top of the Stoxx with a 14% rise after lifting annual profits guidance on the back of a surge in summer sales.
Supermarket Morrisons jumped 4.23% after agreeing a takeover offer worth £7bn.