Europe midday: Shares extend gains as investors bargain hunt

European shares extended gains on Friday with miners leading the way, as investors went bargain hunting after two days of losses.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.45% by 0830 GMT with all major regional bourses higher. Morning trade had been tempered by hawkish comments from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who said interest rates might need to reach 5-5.25% to be "sufficiently restrictive" to curb inflation.

“Thus far, the change in the monetary policy stance appears to have had only limited effects on observed inflation, but market pricing suggests disinflation is expected in 2023,” he said.

In the UK October retail sales fell 6.1% year-on-year, slightly better than analysts were expecting for a fall of 6.5%.

Month-on-month there was a bigger than expected pick up of 0.6% versus forecasts of 0.3% and swinging from a slide of 1.5% in September when sales were hit by the bank holiday for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth.

In equity news, UK insurer Legal & General gained after an upbeat trading statement.