European shares edged higher on Friday, lifted by financials, but the benchmark index remained on course for a weekly decline following tempered rate-cut expectations.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.2% as of 1319 GMT, extending gains from the previous session. Banks rose 0.5%, powered by a 3.2% jump in KBC Group after Morgan Stanley upgraded the Belgian integrated bank-insurance group to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.
Sweden’s Avanza jumped 2.6% and was among top performers on the index, after the financial services provider beat fourth-quarter market expectations. Still, the benchmark index was on course for a weekly loss of around 1%, after hawkish remarks from European Central Bank policymakers prompted traders to rethink expectations for interest rate cuts.
“The outlook for inflation is maybe a bit more sticky than perhaps we all hoped at the end of 2023,…
