European shares hit five-month high as euro drops

European shares hit a five-month high on Friday as one the biggest weekly drops in the euro this year buoyed investors’ moods.

Stocks gains were also underpinned by strong earnings that boosted bank shares such as UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland, while tech stocks gained following upbeat earnings reports from US giants Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.com, reports Reuters.

Europe's STOXX technology index rose 1.0 per cent to its highest in almost 16 years.

The wider pan-European FTSEurofirst climbed 0.5 per cent and euro zone blue chips were set for their ninth straight week of gains.

Europe’s gains also dragged MSCI world equity index back into positive territory for the day, though it was still on course for its first weekly fall in seven weeks, mainly driven by weaker emerging markets.

The euro hit a three-month low of $1.1616, down 0.2 per cent on the day having notched its biggest one-day drop of year on Thursday following the ECB’s announcement.

Spanish 10-year bond yields fell 3 basis points to 1.53 per cent on Friday, having fallen 10 bps on Thursday in their biggest daily drop in six months.

That kept the gap with German peers - which fell 2 bps to 0.43 per cent on Friday - to around 110 bps, the tightest level in around a month.