UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Euro trading around March lows

European stocks clung to thin gains Friday, after equities rose in the prior session as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hinted toward the possibility of more stimulus for the eurozone economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index picked up 0.1% to 344.64, after showing a bigger gain earlier in the session. Technology, consumer goods and telecom shares moved up, but health care, oil and gas, utility and financial stocks were in the red.

The index on Thursday closed up 0.2% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-slip-as-ecb-caution-creeps-in-2016-10-20), reversing losses after Draghi said at a news conference that when the ECB does decide to wrap up its quantitative easing program, it won't come to a "sudden stop."

The program is scheduled to end in March 2017, and Draghi said the council at this week's meeting hadn't discussed either way whether to end the program or extend it beyond March.

"There's no doubt that investors interpreted Draghi's comments to mean that the central bank is still considering more stimulus in December and this view was shared by bond traders who took German and French yields lower after the rate decision," said Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, in a note.

"Yet we can't help but point out that there was nothing overly dovish in Draghi's speech so the euro should be trading higher and not lower," she said, adding that "we view anywhere below 1.0950 as a great place to buy EUR/USD for a move back up above 1.10."

The euro on Friday was buying $1.0889, down from $1.0929 late Thursday. The shared currency was trading around its lowest level since March.

For the week, the Stoxx 600 was on track to rise 1.4%.

Movers: British American Tobacco PLC shares (BATS.LN) pushed 3.3% higher after the Lucky Strike cigarettes maker proposed buying the stake in Reynolds American Inc (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bat-in-47-billion-offer-for-reynolds-stake-2016-10-21). (RAI) that it doesn't already own for $47 billion.

Valeo SA shares (FR.FR) climbed 3.8% after the auto parts supplier raised its full-year 2016 operating-margin target to around 8%.

Ericsson AB shares (ERIC) fell 3.9% after the Swedish telecom-equipment maker swung to a third-quarter loss (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ericsson-plunges-to-loss-hit-by-asia-competition-2016-10-21) of 233 million Swedish kronor ($26.2 million), hurt by a slowdown in the market.

Indexes: Germany's DAX 30 index was flat at 10,705.19 and France's CAC 40 was flat at 4,540.55. Spain's IBEX 35 fell 0.3% to 9,036.70.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% to 7,031.33. The pound traded at $1.2238, down from $1.2252 late Thursday.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2016 04:26 ET (08:26 GMT)

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