London - European shares edged up on
Friday, buoyed by the banking sector after Credit Suisse
and Deutsche Bank settled mortgage
securities fraud suits with the United States, and as Italy's
Monte dei Paschi agreed to a bailout.
The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.1 percent at 0811
GMT, with banks up 0.4 percent, the top sectoral riser.
Deutsche Bank rose 4 percent, the biggest gainer on the
index.
It agreed to a $7.2 billion settlement with the United
States over its sale and pooling of toxic mortgage securities in
the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, while the Justice
Department had been seeking nearly twice as much.
Credit Suisse rose 2 percent after also settling with the
U.S. DoJ, while RBS, which is being investigated, rose
2.4 percent on hopes that its final settlement might be lower
than expected.
Barclays underperformed, down 0.5 percent, as the
DoJ launched a lawsuit against the bank over its sale of
mortgage-backed securities. The bank said it rejected the
complaint.
Italian lenders rose 1.4 percent after the
Italian government agreed to bail out Monte dei Paschi, although
shares in the bank itself were suspended from trading.