European stocks ended higher on Friday, building on momentum that has pushed regional indexes higher this week.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed the session up 0.5%, having added 0.5% in Thursday’s session after reaching a record high earlier in the day, marking the index’s fifth consecutive day of gains.
Major bourses across the region made gains on Friday. London’s FTSE 100 index — which also hit an all-time high earlier this week — was up 0.7% at the close, while Switzerland’s SMI added 0.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB ended 0.4% higher.
Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank advanced 7.4% to top the Stoxx 600 at the end of Friday trade. The Financial Times reported on Friday that the European Union was planning to lift sanctions on a Russian oligarch in order to compensate Raiffeisen for damages it owed in Russia.
Raiffeisen has the largest remaining Russian operation of any western bank. News agency Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported earlier this week that the lender had failed in its latest attempt to offload a stake in its Russian business.
Investors across the globe continued to monitor the U.S. government shutdown, which entered its third day on Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC in an interview on Thursday that the shutdown could hurt America’s economic growth.
Back in Europe, regional leaders congregated in Copenhagen earlier this week to discuss the possibility of building a drone wall to deter Russian aircraft from violating airspace on the continent. European defense giants told CNBC they welcomed the plans.
On Friday, Munich airport briefly closed after drone sightings brought flights to a halt, news agency Reuters reported.
The Stoxx Europe Aerospace and Defense index gained 0.5%, with Italian aerospace firm Avio ending the day up 2%.
Switzerland’s Consumer Price Index showed that prices contracted 0.2% from the previous month in September, data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office showed on Friday.
Officials said the decrease was due to several factors, including lower prices for hotels, air travel and package holidays. Markets are still betting on the Swiss National Bank holding its key interest rate steady at 0% at its next meeting in December, after kept its policy rate unchanged last week.
