Europe open: Stocks rise ahead of US non-farm payrolls

Germany’s DAX rose 0.38%, France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.06%, Italy’s FTSE MIB increased 0.55% and Spain’s IBEX 35 edged up 0.40% at 0850 BST.

At the same time oil prices recovered from the previous day’s dip with Brent crude up 0.91% to $46.83 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 0.90% to $45.55 per barrel.

Friday’s focus will be on the non-farm payrolls report at 1330 BST as the Federal Reserve keeps watch on the health of the labour market in determining its policy measures. The Labor Department is expected to reveal US employers added 180,000 jobs in June, compared to just 38,000 in May.

The Fed has said weak May jobs data played a part in its decision to keep interest rates unchanged in June.

“Last month's US payroll data changed the landscape for the markets and for the Fed,” said Naeen Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Market UK.

“As a result, investors scaled back on their bullish dollar bets because they could not see the Fed increasing the interest rate anytime soon.”

In eurozone data, Germany’s trade surplus shrank in May as exports declined unexpectedly. The seasonally-adjusted trade surplus contracted to €22.2bn in May from €24.1bn in April, in line with expectations according to Destatis. Exports fell 1.8% while imports increased 0.2%.

In the UK, the GfK’s post-Brexit consumer confidence index contracted further to -9 from -1 in June, marking the sharpest drop since December 1994 and the lowest level since December 2013.

“The post Brexit vote plunge in consumer confidence reported by GfK reinforces concern that consumers are likely to markedly rein in their spending over the coming months,” said Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight.

“This would be especially damaging to growth UK prospects given the key role that the consumer has played.”

On the corporate front, Air France-KLM Group shares fell after saying passenger traffic for June fell and its chief financial officer is stepping down to become CFO at Danish facilities manager ISS A/S.

TDC A/S advanced following a report that US private-equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is considering a bid for the Danish telecommunications group.