European stocks made small gains at the opening on Friday, boosted by another set of corporate earnings ahead of euro zone first quarter economic growth data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.2%, just below its record high.
In equity news UK pharmaceutical giant and maker of one of the Covid-19 vaccines AstraZeneca saw its shares up after reporting better-than-expected results and sales growth forecasts.
Swedish Match rose 1.9% after the tobacco group reported a much higher first-quarter operating profit than expected.
Barclays failed to impress investors, with the shares down 6.2% despite reporting a quarterly profit that more than doubled, while France’s BNP Paribas slipped was also lower after better-than-expected profit.
