LONDON — European stocks inched higher on Friday as corporate earnings drive global markets north to close out the week.

TICKER COMPANY NAME PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME
.FTSE FTSE 100 *FTSE 7230.29 22.58 0.31 49525432
.GDAXI DAX *DAX 15495.95 33.23 0.21 4992907
.FCHI CAC 40 Index CAC 6715.12 29.91 0.45 6647985
The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.4% in early trade, with banks adding 1% to lead gains as all sectors and major bourses entered positive territory.

Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday, led by Taiwan’s Taiex index, which surged more than 2% while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose more than 4.5% following its earnings release a day earlier.

This followed a rally on Wall Street which saw the S&P 500 jump nearly 2% for its best day since March, driven by stronger-than-expected earnings from heavyweights Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.