Aug 28 (Reuters) – European shares inched up on Friday, with French stocks recovering from the previous session’s selloff, as investors turned their focus to Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech at Jackson Hole.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6% to 655.64 points at 0708 GMT, heading for a modest weekly rise after two consecutive weekly declines.
French lenders Societe Generale, BNP and Credit Agricole rose between 0.8% and 1% after slumping in the prior session on worries over the political and fiscal outlook ahead of next spring’s presidential election.
France’s CAC 40 led gains among regional bourses, firming about 1% after sliding to a one-month low in the previous session.
The centrepiece for Friday will be Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech, with investors eager to see whether the Fed chair departs from his preference for limited policy signalling and provides fresh guidance on inflation, interest rates and recent bond market volatility.
All sub-sectors edged higher with energy stocks, this week’s top laggard, firming 0.6%.
Among individual stocks, Strabag jumped 7.6% after the Austrian construction group lifted its annual outlook.
Norwegian oil tanker group Frontline rose 2.6% after reporting second-quarter results.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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