Morning Markets: Europe boosted by US comeback

The FTSE opened up at 5237.75, up 26.46 points, (0.51%) as European stocks edged higher in opening trading, drawing some optimism from Wall Street's late-session comeback.

The FTSE opened up at 5237.75, up 26.46, (0.51%) as European stocks edged higher in opening trade drawing some optimism from Wall Street's late-session comeback.

The halt of BP's oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, a settlement between Goldman Sachs and U.S. regulators, and the passage of a major financial-overhaul bill in the U.S. all helped sentiment, despite further signs of U.S. economic weakness and disappointing earnings from Google.

BP topped the leaders' board trading at 424p, up 22.80 points (5.68%) as the oil company evaluates data from a pressure test it began yesterday that will determine whether its leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well can remain sealed.

Quality and safety services provider Invensys maintained its winning streak trading at 267p, up 5.80 points, 2.22%.

Burberry Groups continuing strong sales growth suggest its resilient to austerity measures, trading at 813p, up 23 points (2.91%).

Elsewhere chip maker ARM holdings topped the losers' board, down 5 points (1.61%) to 305p.

Banking stocks performed poorly with Barclays trading at 197p, down 2.45 points, (0.82%), while HSBC dropped 3.50 points (0.55%) to 634p.

The Dow closed in the red at 10359.31, down 7.41 (0.07%), as poor economic data sparked a broad decline in U.S. stocks on Thursday, jeopardising a seven-session winning streak in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Financial stocks were hardest hit as sweeping financial-overhaul legislation cleared its final hurdle, setting the stage for the Senate to give its final approval to the measure later Thursday.

Bank of America Corp was trading at $15.39, down 0.28 points (1.79%), while American Express was at $43.43, down 0.27 points (0.62%)

Elsewhere technology stocks were strong. Two days after Intel Corp. reported its quarterly results and topped expectations it remained strong trading at $21.51, up 0.15 points, 0.70%.

Microsoft closed trading at $25.51, up 0.07 points (0.28%)

The Nikkei fell nearly 3% (277 points) on Friday closing at 9,408.36.as investors took profits before a long weekend.