Europe open: Stocks jump out of the gate, tracking gains on Wall Street

European stocks have begun the session with a sharp move higher, tracking the fresh record highs notched up overnight by the main Wall Street gauges.

As of 0912 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 is up by 0.83% to 394.12, alongside a gain of 1.10% to 12,792.75 for the German Dax and a rise of 0.83% to 5,362.84 in the Cac-40.

"European markets look set for a strong open this morning having started on the front foot yesterday, helped by a continuation of the recent theme of an improving economic environment, as further improvements in economic data fuelled a positive start to the month, which was carried on in the US, after Europe had closed," commented Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Going the other way, front month Brent crude oil futures are down by 2.05% to $47.39 a barrel on the ICE.

In parallel, euro/dollar was edging higher by 0.06% to 1.1222.

Still on the calendar for Friday, euro area producer prices are set to be published at 10:00 BST, followed by US non-farm payrolls data for the month of May are scheduled for release at 13:30 BST.

Shares in BMW are edging higher despite the German carmaker having reported an 11% drop in US car sales in May.

Linde is also on the frontfoot after its board and that of Praxair voted the day before to merge.