European stocks opened the session stable, with the French and Italian indices leading.

European stock indices opened mixed on Friday, as weak performance overshadowed the movement of stock indices in the region while awaiting the release of the final GDP data for the Eurozone later in the session.

However, both the Italian stock index FTSE MIB and the French CAC index managed to achieve some gains, amid data released by the French Ministry of Finance showing a decline in the French budget deficit. However, the gains remained limited as investors awaited the next step to replace the prime minister who was ousted yesterday following a vote of no confidence by the French parliament.

In terms of trading, the performance of European stock indices at the opening was as follows:

• The EURO STOXX 600 index settled at 519.47 points.
• The German DAX index settled at 20,343.16 points.
• The French CAC 40 index rose by 0.26% to 7,349.54 points.
• The British FTSE 100 index settled at 8,345.65 points.
• The Spanish IBEX index rose by 0.1% to 12,130.10 points.
• The Italian FTSE MIB index rose by 0.3% to 34,694.24 points, marking the highest level the index has recorded since November 6 of last year; which is more than a month ago.