European market cheers US move to release trade tensions with China

European shares recovered some ground on Friday after a bruising session a day earlier, as U.S. President Donald Trump predicted a swift end to the ongoing trade war with China that has dominated trade on financial markets over the past year.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.5% by 0707 GMT but remained on track to post a weekly loss and its first monthly decline since a sell-off at the end of last year that knocked 15% off the index. Addressing the latest flashpoint, Trump said late on Thursday that U.S. complaints against Huawei Technologies could be resolved within the U.S.-China trade deal framework, however, no high-level talks between the two countries have been scheduled as yet.

Germany's trade-sensitive DAX, up 0.8%, led the charge among the country indexes while auto and mining stocks were the top performers among European sectors. A slight recovery in the pound kept a lid on advances in London's blue-chip FTSE 100, which tends to underperform when the currency rises. Prime Minister Theresa May is expected on Friday to announce the date of her departure.

In a relatively quiet day for company news, France's Casino shares gained 2% after the retailer said that the filing of its parent company Rallye for protection from creditors had no impact on the execution of its strategy.