European stocks rise near records, head for weekly gain

European stocks rose on Friday, resuming gains after taking a pause yesterday due to profit-taking, to rise once again near an all-time high, to head for the seventh straight weekly gain thanks to the release of upbeat Q3 earnings.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.4% as of 08:59 GMT, after closing lower by 0.5% yesterday on profit-taking from its all-time high of 490.58 points.

The mining sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a rise of more than 1.5%, as most of the sector's companies recovered.

The Stoxx Europe index gained 0.6% so far this week, to head for the seventh weekly gain in a row, thanks to successive upbeat Q3 earnings.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% today ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index closed 0.3% higher yesterday, thanks to improved investors' sentiment.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.3%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.5%, and Germany's DAX index rose 0.25%, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.