European shares edged ahead at the open on Friday as strong US corporate earnings overnight helped to drive sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.2% in early deals with banks, transport and travel stocks making gains.
Wall Street rallied overnight, pushing the S&P 500 to its best day since March, driven by stronger-than-expected earnings Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. This provided a lift for Deutsche Bank, Bank of Ireland and Virgin Money.
Oil majors were up on the back of higher oil prices, with Brent oil trading a touch above $84 from $83.75 on Thursday. BP and Shell rose as a result.
In other equity news, shares in fashion retailer Hugo Boss gained after the company raised its outlook for the current year after third-quarter earnings rebounded on the back of strong demand in Europe and the Americas.
Rio Tinto fell 1 after the Australian miner cut its 2021 iron ore shipments forecast, citing a tight labour market in Western Australia.
Pearson fell despite backing full-year forecasts. A rise in sales was dampened by lower US course enrolments due to Covid-19.
Swiss banking software firm Temenos plunged 13.8% after results, while French cloud computing services company OVHcloud rose 1.8% in its Paris stock market debut.
British e-commerce company THG climbed 5.5% to lead the Stoxx 600, continuing its rebound from a 35% on Tuesday.
