By Sara Sjolin and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Most European stock markets pushed higher late Friday and posted solid weekly gains after euro-zone consumer confidence climbed to a six-year high.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index put on 0.1% to close at 327.91, ending with a 1.8% weekly gain.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index gained 0.2% to 6,557.17, led by resource firms. Anglo American PLC gained 2% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) picked up 0.5%.

Burberry Group PLC (BURBY) fell 2.1% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its rating of the luxury-goods company to neutral from buy.

Among other country-specific indexes, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.5% to 9,342.94, for a 3.2% weekly advance.

France's CAC 40 index was lifted 0.2% to 4,335.28 and closed out the week 2.8% higher. Shares of Bouygues SA fell 2.6% after the French company on Thursday raised the cash portion of its offer to acquire SFR, Vivendi SA's mobile unit. Vivendi shares lost 1.4%.

The indexes briefly dipped into red territory during the session, but moved higher again as U.S. markets advanced and the report on euro-zone consumer confidence beat forecasts. The European Commission said the flash consumer-confidence indicator for March rose to -9.3 from -12.7, outstripping expectations of a -12.4 reading and climbing to the highest level since 2007.

Howard Archer, chief U.K. and European economist, called the data encouraging news for the euro zone and suggest that "so far, at least, the Ukraine crisis has not worried consumers unduly."

"Hopefully, improved consumer confidence, stabilizing labor markets and very low consumer price inflation (...) will increasingly underpin consumer spending and help euro-zone economic recovery to gain traction over the coming months," he said in emailed comments.

European stocks built on a modest rise at the end of Thursday's session, sparked by , in part on a report showing a bounce-back in the Philadelphia-area manufacturing sector. Asian stocks overnight followed up with gains for major indexes and U.S. stocks also traded mostly higher on Friday.

Europe's spring election season will begin this weekend with the first round of municipal elections in France, noted Win Thin, head of emerging-market currency strategy at BBH.

"Although the Socialists may hold on to Paris, the risk is that the Prime Minister's party is soundly trounced this weekend," wrote Thin. "Many will watch how Le Pen's National Front does, which is running around twice the candidates they did in the last municipal elections, as it gears up for the EU parliamentary elections in May." Read Delamaide on how the French vote could show a rise in anti-euro feelings.

In Russia, the MICEX Index dropped 1.1% to 1,305.20 after the U.S. imposed sanctions on four influential Russian businessmen and a bank, saying the penalties could apply to anyone who "has acted for or on behalf of, or that has provided material or other support, to a senior Russian government official." U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday said the country was preparing broader sanctions should Russia take further steps into Ukraine.

Meanwhile, European Union leaders on Thursday agreed to asset freezes and visa bans on 12 more Russian officials, but sidestepped penalizing powerful oligarchs or companies.

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