Europe: Stocks open higher after rollercoaster week

[LONDON] European equities opened higher on Friday, having already recouped all their losses from a bruising 8 per cent correction earlier this week, with investors betting on easy central-bank policy to combat a slower growth outlook.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.2 per cent at 0712 GMT, with top benchmark indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt up 0.1 to 0.4 per cent. "(We) remain constructive on equities," Credit Suisse strategists wrote in a note to clients. "We see global growth modestly accelerating...Moreover, further slowdown in China would, in our view, result in more monetary easing globally.

"The bad news we have revised down our earnings-per-share forecasts for 2015 and 2016 to 7 per cent below consensus in Europe for 2015 and 4 per cent below consensus in the US for 2016."

REUTERS