Financials started off on a poor footing, amid rumours the majority of US banks had failed their stress tests.
The International Monetary Fund warned writedowns of banks' toxic assets could reach $4,100bn, further damping sentiment.
However, a string of positive news events prompted an about-turn. Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, reassured investors on Tuesday that "the vast majority of banks" were well capitalised.
Furthermore, Credit Suisse reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday of SFr2bn - twice as much as analysts had expected.
Credit Suisse surged on the news - its shares have risen 18% since Tuesday to SFr43.48.
Deutsche Bank gained 9% to €41.09 over the past four sessions, having rallied 130% since March's lows, and France's BNP Paribas gained 4% to €38.31, having risen 75% since March.
The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 index rose 2.3% to 810.38 Thursday, but was nonetheless 0.4% lower over the week.
France's CAC 40 fell 4% on Monday but the ensuing rally meant that it ended the week 0.8% higher at 3,102.85 - Germany's Xetra Dax added 0.5% to 4,674.32.
Emerging market Turkey enjoyed a strong week as investors anticipated a lending deal with the IMF.
GERMANY
German stocks gained as business confidence in Europe's largest economy rose more than expected in April while Ford Motor Co. and American Express Co. in the US posted results that beat analysts' projections.
Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering company, climbed 5.4%, while Salzgitter AG, Germany's second-biggest steelmaker, gained 5.3%. Daimler AG and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest luxury carmakers, gained more than 3% each. Deutsche Bank AG, Commerzbank AG and Deutsche Postbank AG all advanced.
The benchmark DAX Index rose 3% to 4,674.32, trimming its decline this week to 0.1%. The HDAX Index of the country's 110 largest companies increased 3%.
The Ifo institute said Friday its business climate index rebounded from a 26-year low this month as interest-rate cuts and government stimulus packages boosted expectations that the recession will ease later in 2009. French business confidence increased for the first time in 13 months, Paris-based statistics office Insee said Thursday.
The DAX Index posted its first weekly slide in seven weeks as concern that credit losses may increase outweighed optimism that governments' efforts to simulate economic activity and shore up the banking system will work. The measure has rebounded 27% from this year's lows.
Siemens gained 5.4% to 49.31 Euros, and Salzgitter advanced 5.3% to 56.79 Euros. Hochtief AG, Germany's largest construction company, advanced 5.5% to 35.68 Euros, while competitor Bilfinger Berger AG rallied 7.5% to 36.62 Euros.
Bilfinger Berger, the country's second-biggest builder, told investors at a presentation in Frankfurt that the recession should have "no major consequences" for the output of its services division this year.
Daimler rose 3.5% to 27.265 Euros. The world's second-largest maker of luxury cars gets almost a fifth of its revenue in the US Smaller rival BMW added 3.7% to 27.21 Euros while Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, rose 3.8% to 236.90 Euros.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, rose 3.8% to 41.09 Euros. Commerzbank, the second-biggest, added 2.8% to 5.09 Euros. Postbank, the retail lender partly owned by Deutsche Bank, increased 4.4% to 15.25 Euros.
Continental AG surged 17% to 20.61 Euros, a three-month high. The company may merge with Schaeffler Group, its 90% owner, and lead a combined company as the two car-parts makers seek to manage more than 20 billion Euros ($26.3 billion) in debt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, without saying where it got the information.
PSI AG advanced 10% to 5.35 Euros. The company, which creates software for utilities, said its first- quarter net income gained 54% to 1.3 million Euros as sales gained 12% and new orders rose.
SMA Solar Technology AG climbed 10% to 43.67 Euros. UBS AG rated the producer of alternating-current converters a "buy" in new coverage, saying the stock "is now our preferred pick in our European solar coverage."
Solarworld AG fell 1.5% to 19.40 Euros. UBS AG lowered its recommendation on Germany's third-largest solar company to "neutral" from "buy."
Wincor Nixdorf AG lost 4.3% to 37.45 Euros, a three-week low. HSBC Holdings Plc lowered its recommendation on the world's second-largest maker of automated teller machines to "neutral" from "overweight."
FRANCE
France's benchmark CAC 40 Index rose 94.23, or 3.1%, to 3,102.85. The gauge has gained 0.4% this week, its seventh straight weekly gain. The SBF 120 added 64.78, or 3%, to 2,253.11.
Areva SA added 9.18 Euros, or 2.5%, to 380 Euros, the fourth straight advance. The world's biggest maker of nuclear reactors reported an 8.5% rise in first-quarter revenue to 3 billion Euros and confirmed its full-year forecasts for revenue and operating income growth.
Separately, Air France-KLM Group Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta will next week be named chairman of Areva's supervisory board, Les Echos reported, without saying where it got the information.
Axa SA increased 18.5 cents, or 1.6%, to 11.91 Euros, its third gain this week. Europe's second-largest insurer was raised to "outperform" from "neutral" at Exane BNP Paribas.
BNP Paribas SA, France's biggest bank, rose 1.75 Euros, or 4.8%, to 38.41, its second gain this week. Separately, the bank said its retail brokerage unit in India will make money in 2009 and the bank may consider increasing its stake to more than 50% as early as next year.
Credit Agricole SA, the country's second-largest, climbed 53.5 cents, or 5.3%, to 10.57 Euros. Separately, the bank has reached an agreement with Assicurazioni Generali SpA over their holdings in lender Intesa Sanpaolo SpA.
Societe Generale SA, the third-biggest lender, rose 1.29 Euros, or 3.5%, to 38.37.
Banks rallied as American Express Co., the biggest US credit-card company by purchases, posted first-quarter profit from continuing operations of 32 cents a share, more than double the average analyst estimate.
Electricite de France SA rose the most in a month, adding 2.26 Euros, or 6.9%, to 35.02 Euros. Europe's biggest power producer should sell rivals as much nuclear power as they need at a regulated wholesale rate to boost competition in Europe's second-largest power market, a commission recommended.
European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. advanced 92 cents, or 8.8%, to 11.40 Euros, the biggest gain this year. Investors bet the appointment of a new US arms-buying official will revive the company's chances of winning a $35 billion contract.
LDC SA rose 1.70 Euros, or 2.6%, to 66.11 Euros, its highest level since June. Europe's largest publicly traded poultry processor is in exclusive talks to buy Groupe Arrive, poultry and animal feeds company.
Renault SA gained 75.5 cents, or 3.4%, to 23.31 Euros, rising for a fourth straight day. France's second- biggest automaker rallied after French consumer spending rebounded more than expected in March as slowing inflation and government incentives lifted demand for clothing and cars.
Separately, Renault SA's Romanian car unit Dacia SA will increase daily production by 12% this year as exports increase, boosted by incentives to spur demand.
PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe's second-biggest automaker, added 58 cents, or 3.4%, to 17.75 Euros.
Sanofi-Aventis SA rose 76.5 cents, or 1.9%, to 40.71 Euros, the biggest gain in three weeks. The world's third-largest drugmaker is looking for partnerships with Chinese companies, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the company's Chief Executive Officer, Christopher A. Viehbacher.
Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company rose 1.75 Euros, or 4.8%, to 38.35 Euros. Eni SpA, the first of Europe's oil majors to publish results, reported earnings, excluding inventory changes, which beat analysts' expectations.
Separately, crude oil rose to $50 barrel in New York for the first time in four days as the Dollar dropped, dulling demand for commodities as a currency hedge.
BELGIUM
The Bel 20 ended the day at 1,955.82, that was a mighty 2.65% up on Friday alone.
A group of Fortis shareholders has come up with an alternate plan for the troubled financial services company and intends to try to defeat an existing proposal that would see much of Fortis's operations sold to French bank BNP Paribas.
The shareholders are advocating what they describe as the stand-alone option. Under this plan, BNP Paribas would be replaced by Fortis SA/NV as Belgium's counterpart. This would involve the Belgian government selling at least 50% of Fortis Bank back to Fortis, with the rest being sold gradually over time.
According to the shareholders, their stand-alone plan would create a strategically coherent group with a strong bancassurance franchise that would be centered on the Belgian and Luxembourg economies, which they say could generate 1 billion Euros in banking profits and 11.6 billion Euros in insurance premiums.
Shares in Belgian biotech group Devgen surged 14.8%, a five-month high after announcing that Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, paid it 20 million Euros ($26.05 million) in exchange for expanded rights to Devgen technology.
Devgen's gains sharply outperform the Belgian small-cap index which ended up 0.5%. Despite the gains, Devgen shares remain more than 60% below their 52-week high of 15.42 Euros reached in May 2008.
THE NETHERLANDS
In Amsterdam the AEX closed out Friday at 239.34, up 1.72% on the day.
Dutch recruitment firm Randstad Holdings, closed up 7.6% Friday.
The firm swung to a first-quarter net loss of 52.6 million Euros ($69.4 million), after factoring in 53.7 million Euros of restructuring charges. A year earlier, it posted quarterly net income of 75.1 million Euros.
Sales increased 37% to 3.1 billion Euros, broadly in line with analyst forecasts.
SWITZERLAND
The SMI in Zurich ended the week at 5,113.05, up 1.77% on the day.
Credit Suisse shares rose another 0.7%, extending sharp earnings-related gains from the previous session. It was upgraded to neutral from sell by UBS on Friday and to neutral from underperform by Exane BNP Paribas.
Continued international penetration and market share gains will be the fuel for future revenue growth at Alcon. Sales in emerging markets, including China, Russia and India continue to be big contributors to growth. The company generates a significant amount of operating cash flow, which we would expect to be reinvested in the form of increased R&D in an effort to restock the company's drug portfolio following certain patent expirations.
Cash flow may also be returned to shareholders through another share buyback program, which may be initiated now that Novartis (NVS) has completed the initial purchase of Nestlé's stake in the company. Alcon is already putting some of that cash to work in the form of dividends. The company proposed that the dividend be increased to 3.95 Swiss francs per share (from 2.63 Swiss francs) or roughly $3.47 per share at current exchange rates. This is a 50% increase.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Friday it will start a new trial for Tarceva in lung cancer patients with a certain form of gene mutation, challenging a similar drug candidate from UK-rival AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) that got a positive European Union panel recommendation Thursday.
Roche said it was working with the Spanish Lung Cancer Group, or SLCG, on a trial to study Tarceva as a first therapy for patients with a mutation in the so called epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, which plays an important role for the development of lung cancer.
The trial will evaluate whether Tarceva works better for the initial treatment of patients with such a mutation than chemotherapy.
Roche shares traded up CHF3, or 2.2%, at CHF137.90 while the broader Swiss bourse traded up 1.5%.
Year-to-date, Roche shares have lost around 15% of their value, largely in line with an 18% drop in the European Stoxx 600 Health Care index.
AUSTRIA
In Vienna, the ATX closed at 1,860.71 - huge gains of 3.63% for the session.
Troubled Austrian property group Immofinanz disappointed investors with a weak take-up of its offer to swap two convertible bonds, possibly limiting its option to merge with subsidiary Immoeast.
Immofinanz said on Friday 38% of its convertible bonds maturing 2014 and 2017, worth a combined 1.5 billion Euros ($2 billion), were exchanged into the new convertible bonds it offered, thereby reducing its liabilities to 1.2 billion Euros.
However, chief executive Eduard Zehetner had told Reuters in an interview last week that at least 50% of the bonds would have to be swapped to make possible a merger of Immofinanz with its Immoeast unit.
Immofinanz shares were down 7% at 1.65 Euros.
The chief executive of Austria's largest oil and gas company OMV, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, is under scrutiny for alleged insider trading with company shares as well as alleged market manipulation.
OMV is one of the most significant equity investments by Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) in Europe, with 19.2% of OMV's shares held by Ipic.
The supervisory authority of the Vienna stock exchange confirmed on Tuesday that they are investigating a share deal by Ruttenstorfer worth 620,000 Euros (Dh2.79 million) executed on March 23, just before OMV surprisingly sold its stake in its loss-making Hungarian competitor, oil company MOL. After the sale, shares of OMV rose 3.3% while the Austrian Traded Index ATX fell more than four% due to otherwise poor market conditions that day.
SWEDEN
Stockholm's OMX 30 closed at 779.16, up 0.82% on the day.
Volvo slipped 1.8% to 54 kronor. The world's second-largest maker of heavy trucks cut its industry sales forecast and reported its second straight quarterly loss as transporters cut purchases amid the economic slump.
TeliaSonera slid 2.5% to 38.40 kronor. Sweden's biggest phone company lowered its full-year sales outlook, predicting revenue in 2009 will be "around the same level" as in 2008. The company posted first-quarter net income that was little changed.
SEB shares lost 5% in Stockholm.
The banking group said Friday that its first-quarter net income fell 45% to 1.03 billion Swedish kronor ($124 million) as the bank added that it will apply to participate in the Swedish government's funding guarantee program. Provisions for credit losses jumped to 2.39 billion kronor from 364 million kronor and it took 594 million kronor of impairment charges related to its business in the Ukraine.
FINLAND
The OMX in Helsinki saw gains Friday, although not as great as some of its European peers. Closing out the week at 5,429.94, up just 0.43% Friday.
Stora Enso Oyj, Europe's biggest papermaker, said it plans to cut 2,000 more jobs and predicted that demand will continue to fall through the next quarter.
"It is increasingly clear that the sharp volume declines we are experiencing in our markets are driven more by underlying declines in demand than customer de-stocking," Chief Executive Officer Jouko Karvinen said. "Our forecast for the second quarter is for more of the same."
Stora aims to save 250 million Euros ($326 million) a year, mainly by eliminating management and administrative posts the Helsinki-based company said in a statement. Karvinen, who has already cut almost 4,000 jobs in his first two years at the helm, will continue production cutbacks during the second quarter that have idled almost 25% of Stora's capacity. The papermaker said it sees no "material" improvement in European demand.
The company posted a first-quarter net loss of 38.2 million Euros, or 5 cents a share, compared with a profit of 70.5 million Euros, or 9 cents, a year earlier, Stora said Friday.
Finnish department store group Stockmann reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss, hit by a weak economy, currencies and the closing of a store, and said its second quarter would also be weak.
Stockmann shares were down 2.6% at 11.48 Euros.
Finnish engineer Wartsila reported forecast-beating earnings on Friday thanks to strength in its power plant and ship engine businesses, but worries about shipping demand knocked its shares.
First-quarter operating profit leapt 60% year-on-year to 130 million Euros ($171 million), topping all forecasts in a Reuters poll where the average estimate was 95 million Euros.
Net sales at Wartsila, one of the world's biggest suppliers of marine engines, were also robust, jumping 46% to 1.24 billion Euros and well ahead of all forecasts. Sales at its power plant unit more than doubled to 431 million Euros.
Wartsila shares initially jumped as much as 8% on the result, but then cooled and fell into the red, down 3.3% at 21.62 Euros
NORWAY
In Oslo, the OBX gained 2.39% Friday to bring the week to a close at 219.41.
Norway's biggest banking group, DnB NOR ASA said Friday it has appointed a top regional manager to head a new Norwegian business unit as part of its overall restructuring plan aimed at cutting costs by 2 billion Norwegian kroner ($299 million) through 2012.
Karin Bing Orgland, currently head of DnB's regional division east in corporate banking and payment services, has been a central figure in planning the new unit which is being launched in the summer, DnB said. Orgland was also named group executive vice president.
The unit will be geared toward retail customers and large parts of the Norwegian corporate market. Chief Executive Rune Bjerke said it will aim to offer customers a "more homogeneous and integrated DnB NOR."
Bjerke said: "Given (Orgland's) long experience and wide range of expertise, she is tailor-made for the task."
DnB spokesman Trond Bentestuen said the unit will have an impact on personnel and branches, without giving more detail.
DnB NORD, partly owned by Norway's biggest bank group DnB NOR, is closing two Danish offices because of the effects of the financial crisis and losses in the real estate market, the bank said on Friday.
A venture with Germany's Norddeutsche Landesbank, DnB NORD was founded in January 2006 and has said it was struggling with its Danish operations.
Norwegian video conferencing systems maker Tandberg lagged forecasts with an 11% rise in first-quarter operating profit, and said on Thursday its was seeing effects of constrained spending.
"The video industry did experience prolonged sales cycles and the effect of constrained capex in Q1," Tandberg ASA's Chief Executive, Fredrik Halvorsen, told a presentation.
"Against that, we made no compromises on the balance sheet, we have strong operational control and we have strengthened our competitive position," Halvorsen said.
Operating profit rose to $41 million in the three months to end-March, lagging the average forecast of $43 million in a Reuters poll of 11 analysts whose estimates ranged from $34 million to $47 million.
DENMARK
In Copenhagen the OMX 20 closed out the week at 268.85, gains of 1.52% on the day.
Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S will be able to launch its closely-watched diabetes drug Victoza on a number of European markets by the summer, after European Union regulators late Thursday recommended the treatment for approval, Chief Scientific Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.
"We are extremely happy about it," he said. "Over years, we believe that this product can target very many patients on the European continent". There are currently some 25 million diabetics in Europe and the number is growing, he added.
Victoza belongs to a class of diabetes drugs known as GLP-1 analogues, which compared to conventional treatment with insulin have the advantage of not pushing blood sugar levels dangerously low, and also help patients lose weight.
Krogsgaard Thomsen said Victoza will be the first GLP-1 type diabetes treatment on the market apart from Eli Lilly's and Amylin's Byetta, and added that Victoza is more effective than the competitor at improving blood glucose control.
"We believe that we have a fantastic opportunity now to be the preferential product in the GLP-1 class," he said.
Krogsgaard Thomsen said Novo Nordisk is hoping to eventually launch Victoza in all E.U. countries, provided that it can get a sufficient price for the drug.
He didn't comment on where the company will first launch Victoza. He noted, however, that negotiations over reimbursement and market access will take longer in countries like France, while a more rapid launch will be possible in Germany and the UK
"We will definitely roll out in several countries over the months to come," he added.
On April 2, an advisory panel of the US Food & Drug Administration came to a split vote on whether to recommend Victoza for US approval due to concerns that it might cause thyroid cancer. Krogsgaard Thomsen said his company is in dialogue with the regulator, and expects it to reach a final decision "within months".
In a note to investors, Jyske Bank said the European approval of Victoza is positive for Novo Nordisk, but added that a launch on the bigger US market would still be a more important share price trigger.
Shares in Novo Nordisk were up 2.8% at DKK273.00.
SPAIN
The IBEX 35 in Madrid ended up 1.36% on the day, closing at 8,888.20.
Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA slumped 9% to 1.52 Euros, the most since November, after Spain's biggest airline said that it plans no dividend on 2008 earnings and it's unlikely to post a profit this year if the recession continues to suppress demand for travel.
Spain's Gas Natural said on Friday it plans to issue shares to pay for the share swap to acquire the remaining about 5% of Union Fenosa it does not already own.
Gas Natural said on Thursday it planned to offer three of its own shares for every five of the remaining 45 million shares in Fenosa, indicating the issue of about 27 million new shares or 3% of Gas Natural's share capital.
Gas Natural was down 1.54% at 12.09 Euros.
PORTUGAL
In Lisbon the PSI General closed up 1.22% at 2,261.22.
Portuguese power company EDP said on Friday its first-quarter energy distribution fell 1.6% in Portugal and Spain, while a drop in mining activity in Brazil caused a steep decline in supplies to large industrial consumers there.
The volume of electrical energy distributed in Portugal dipped just 0.9% to 12,917 gigawatt hours (GWh), while EDP's natural gas distribution rose 1.8%, which the company said demonstrated resilience during the economic downturn.
In Spain, where the crisis hit much harder after years of economic boom, EDP's electricity sales slumped 4.9% to 2,374 GWh and gas distribution slipped 1.1%.
ITALY
Italy's benchmark S&P/MIB Index gained for a third day, rose to the highest in 2 1/2 months, adding 506, or 2.8%, to 18,651 in Milan. The gauge increased 0.8% this week.
Aedes SpA jumped 5.15 cents, or 8.8%, to 63.95 cents. The real estate and fund-management company said Thursday after the close that it finalized the restructuring agreement with investors Isoldi and the Amenduni family. The company is confident that creditor banks will give their support to the agreement in the next few days.
Ansaldo STS SpA rose 43 cents, or 3.8%, to 11.85 Euros. Finmeccanica SpA's railway technology unit said first-quarter profit rose 49% to 15.6 million Euros ($20.7 million).
Finmeccanica SpA, Italy's biggest defense company, gained 66.5 cents, or 6.8%, to 10.44 Euros. European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. surged in Paris as investors bet the appointment of a new US arms-buying official will revive the company's chances of winning a $35 billion contract.
Eni SpA rose to the highest in almost two months, adding 76 cents, or 5.1%, to 15.74 Euros. Italy's biggest oil producer said that first-quarter net income excluding changes to inventory values was 1.76 billion Euros, beating the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg of 1.55 billion Euros.
Citigroup Inc. said in a note that "Eni remains the best 'value' stock in the sector." Collins Stewart said in a note Friday's release may improve investors' confidence "in the sustainability of the dividend."
Fiat SpA rose 28.5 cents, or 3.8%, to 7.7 Euros. Italy's biggest carmaker had its price estimate increased at JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG, Citigroup Inc., Exane BNP Paribas, Cheuvreux, Commerzbank, Natixis Securities, and Sal Oppenheim Jr & Cie. after Thursday's first-quarter figures. Fiat said in a statement after the close of trading that it hasn't made an offer to buy a stake in General Motors Corp.'s Opel unit.
Fondiaria-Sai SpA climbed to the highest in almost three months, adding 1.05 Euros, or 9.2%, to 12.49 Euros. Italy's second-largest insurer had its price estimate increased to 14.4 Euros from 12 Euros at Mediobanca Securities, which cited "the recent positive performance of equity markets." The brokerage kept a "neutral" rating.
Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso SpA, the Italian publisher controlled by De Benedetti, surged 14.7 cents, or 15%, to 1.1 Euros, taking its gains from the release of first-quarter figures on April 22 to 42%. Gruppo Banca Leonardo said in a note that the results were above its expectations, mainly because of cost-cutting.
Lottomatica SpA, the manager of Italy's national lottery, rose for a fourth day, adding 51 cents, or 3.3%, to 16 Euros. Italy may use lotteries to raise funds for its 8 billion-Euro plan to rebuild Abruzzo, the central Italian region devastated by an earthquake this month, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said Thursday.
Saipem SpA, Europe's largest oil-field services contractor by market value, advanced 74 cents, or 4.8%, to 16.05 Euros. Crude oil rose for a fourth day as advancing equities and a weaker Dollar outweighed concern the recession will cut fuel demand.
Seat Pagine Gialle SpA rose for the first time in three sessions, adding 9.2% to 18.49 cents. UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking upgraded Italy's largest publisher of phone directories to "hold" from "sell," citing "potential re-rating."
Tenaris SA, the world's biggest maker of seamless steel tubes for pipelines, surged 45.5 cents, or 5%, to 9.55 Euros, erasing Thursday's losses. The US International Trade Commission voted 6-0 that certain welded line pipe imports from China have been sold into the US at "less than fair value," and therefore injuring US producers.
Terna Rete Elettrica Nazionale SpA gained 11 cents, or 4.8%, to 2.41 Euros. The owner of Italy's national power grid said it sold a stake in Terna Participacoes SA to Cemig Geracao e Transmissao SA for 809 million Euros.
UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold" after the deal, while Santander Private Banking increased its price estimate to 3 Euros from 2.9 Euros and reiterated a "buy" recommendation.
Tiscali SpA, the Italian Internet provider that put itself up for sale, climbed 8 cents, or 25%, to 40 cents, the steepest increase in 1 1/2 months. "The company confirms the existence of negotiations for the disposal of its activities in the UK," Cagliari, Italy- based Tiscali said in a statement Friday.
GREECE
In Athens, the appropriately named 'Athex' closed at 1,926.54, up 1.08% on the trading session Friday.
Shareholders of Greece's state-controlled Post Bank, the country's seventh-largest lender, approved on Wednesday plans for a rights issue of up to 526 million Euros ($679.7 million) to boost its capital.
The lender plans to issue up to 142 million new shares, the company said in a statement. Existing shareholders will get one new share for every one held.
Post Bank GSPr.AT in March reported a 93% fall in its annual net 2008 profit to 2.85 million Euros, hurt by loan-loss provisions and trading losses.
The bank got in January shareholders' approval for a 225 million Euro capital increase via the sale of preferred shares to the government, as part of a state-backed 28-billion-Euro support package for banks.
Global cereal production will fall 3.1% to 2,217m tonnes this year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, which said the decline was unlikely to push prices significantly higher.
China's RMB climbed to a one-month high after the People's Bank of China set the strongest reference rate since November, bolstering confidence the government won't seek depreciation to aid exporters. 
