Europe open: Banks under pressure at the start of the day, Trump in focus

Stocks began the session with slight losses, tracking a mixed close overnight on Wall Street and with stock in RBS and StanChart leading the way lower on the back of their latest full-year numbers.

As of 0921 GMT the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.33% to 371.63, as the Dax lost 0.38% to 11,902.49 and the Cac-40 another 0.54% to 4,864.46.

Meanwhile, the Stoxx 600's gauge of lenders' shares was lower by 0.87% to 170.55.

Investors were also increasingly cautious ahead of what was thought to be an imminent announcement over the next few sessions of the new US administration's proposed tax cut plans.

Commenting on the situation in markets, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC UK, said: "While US markets finished the day slightly higher, and the Dow made another record close on rather vague comments from new US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, about wanting to have significant tax reform in place by the end of the summer, it would appear that once again the rally is starting to look a little tired.

"Next week it will be three weeks since US President Trump promised something "phenomenal" with respect to tax reform and it is becoming clear that investors are starting to become a little restless."

There was little on Friday´s economic calendar in terms of potentially market-moving data.

Consumer borrowing rose at annual rate of 6.7% in January, according to the BBA, with mortgage approvals running at 44,657 (consensus: 41,900), up from 43,230 in the month before.

Total industrial orders in Italy slipped by 0.9% year-on-year in December, according to ISTAT, as sales expanded by 9.4%, up from 3.4% in the month before.

Later in the day, investors were awaiting the University of Michigan´s consumer confidence index for the month of February and the latest monthly new home sales figures, both of which were due out at 1500 GMT.

Shares in RBS fell back after the company clocked in with its ninth-straight annual loss, although management said it hoped 2017 would mark the end of its decade-long restructuring.

In parallel, StanChart posted 2016 pre-tax profits of $409m, down from $1.52bn one year ago. Excluding extraordinary items operating profits were running at $1.09bn (consensus: $1.42bn).

Italian lenders were also under the spotlight after UniCredit reported in the previous session that its record €13.0bn share issue had been nearly fully subscribed.

Up to €15.0bn in other bank share issues were expected in Italy, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.