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Oct 11 (Reuters) - European shares were boosted on Friday by
advancing shares of SAP after its long term CEO stepped down,
while upbeat rhetoric surrounding U.S.-China trade talks and
Brexit also brightened the mood.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX climbed 0.5% at 0705
GMT, with shares in Frankfurt .GDAXI rising 0.8% - the most
among its peers.
Germany's SAP SAPG.DE jumped 7.4% after the enterprise
software company pre-released a strong set of third-quarter
results and said its CEO Bill McDermott is stepping down after a
decade at the helm. SAP shares pushed the technology sector .SX8P 2.5% higher,
touching a two-month peak.
Bucking the trend higher, London's FTSE 100 .FTSE shed
0.3% as shares of export-reliant firms took a beating from a
firm sterling GPB= .
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday a Brexit
deal could be clinched by the end of October, after what he
called a very positive meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris
Johnson. Meanwhile, the second day of negotiations between the United
States and China aimed at resolving their protracted trade war
are set to resume on Friday.
Top negotiators from both sides expressed optimism after
Thursday's talks, lifting hopes of a delay in next week's
schedule U.S. tariff hike.