European shares on track for firm weekly gains as banks, miners advance

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window) Oct 3 (Reuters) – European shares were set for solid weekly gains on Friday with banks and miners leading early advances as rising Federal Reserve rate-cut bets lifted the STOXX 600 to a record high during the week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index climbed 0.3% to 569.6 points by 0707 GMT, on track for its best weekly showing since late April. Eurozone banks climbed 1%, with Raiffeisen leading gains at a 7.7% rise after the Financial Times reported the European Union is looking at lifting sanctions on assets linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to compensate the Austrian bank. ABN Amro climbed 2.6% after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the Dutch bank to "buy" from "sell". Basic resources, which houses Europe's top mining companies, gained 1.3% tracking higher base metal prices. As the U.S. government remains in a shutdown, a key U.S. jobs report which was initially expected on Friday is unlikely to be published later in the day. Trader bets indicate a near-certain chance of a Fed rate cut later this month following a weak private payrolls report earlier this week. A barrage of services activity data from several European countries including a broader eurozone reading is due later in the day. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Amir Orusov in Gdansk; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)