European stocks open higher after Brussels summit success

European stock opened higher on Friday morning session, buoyed by news that Euro area leaders had reached a last-minute budget deal after a year of disagreements between member states.

- STOXX Europe 600 gained 0.17 percent or 0.49 points to 286.91

- Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.13 percent or 3.50 points to 2,623.36

Shares across the European content gained in the early minutes of today’s session as a breakthrough deal on the region`s long-term budget and employment in Brussels spread optimism among investors.

After more than a year of divisive and unproductive squabbling, the European Union has finally agreed to a budget deal, just hours ahead of a summit to end rampant youth unemployment in the bloc. European Union leaders agreed on a new plan to fight youth unemployment and a 960 billion euro seven-year EU budget.

The 27 leaders also pledged to spend 6 billion euros over the next two years to support job creation, training and apprenticeships for young people, and to raid unspent EU budget funds to keep the effort going thereafter.

- British FTSE 100 inched 0.24% up to 6,258.46

- France`s CAC 40 was down 0.07% to 3,759.57

- German DAX gained 0.09% to 7,997.61

The last-minute agreement reached on Thursday came after an earlier agreement on banking union. However, both agreements still require parliamentary approval.

After a seven-hour meeting late Wednesday that followed 18 hours of unsuccessful bargaining last week, EU finance ministers agreed on a deal about future bank bailouts and who is liable to pay for them, where shareholders, bondholders and depositors with more than 100,000 euros could end up with the burden of saving failing banks.

Euro extended rally on Friday, pushing the EURUSD pair to trade at 1.3048, after recording a low of 1.3029, and a high of 1.3075.

Investors saw Asian stocks rising on Friday after a jump in the Japanese industrial production, signaled a continued pickup in Japan`s economy, highlighting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe`s massive stimulus program is working to shore up the economy.

A report today showed that Japanese factory output rose 2 percent in May, the most since December 2011, compared with a previous reading of 0.9% and analysts` expectations of 0.2%.

Current economic indicators reflects the efficiency of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe`s plans to boost the world`s third largest economy, where he pledges to reach the 2% inflation target within two years and end the nation`s 15-years deflation.

On Wall Street, indices ended higher after comments by Federal Reserve officials suggested that the central bank was in no rush to begin trimming its monetary stimulus anytime soon.

On Thursday, the president of the New York Fed William Dudley, Fed Governor Jerome Powell and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart sought to calm investors by assuring them the Fed won`t start trimming its bond purchases until the economy has strengthened.