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LONDON — European stocks are expected to open higher on Friday, as investors closely monitored further escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 33 points higher at 8,184, Germany’s DAX up 28 points at 19,174, France’s CAC up 5 points at 7,221 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 52 points at 33,402, according to data from IG.
It comes after the pan-European Stoxx 600 index snapped a four-session losing streak to close around 0.5% higher on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday responded to the U.S. and U.K., allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with Western weapons by firing a hypersonic ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
The strike marked a further escalation in the 33-month-old war and came shortly after Russia lowered its threshold for using nuclear weapons.
Gold prices extended gains on Friday and were on course for their best week in a year amid concerns over the conflict.
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 index log gains for a fourth straight day.
U.S. stock futures edged higher overnight, on track to end the week with gains across the three major averages.
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