Financial News

LONDON (ShareCast) - Europe's main markets are largely higher early on Friday, with exception of the German Dax, thanks to strong banking shares.

Commerzbank (Xetra: 803200 - news) is leading the risers in Frankfurt, while Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) , Credit Suisse and UniCredit (Milan: UCG.MI - news) are also in demand.

Across the markets, the German DAX is down 11 points at 4,826 with the French CAC rising 17 points at 3,211. The Swiss market gained 41 points to 5,418.

Sportscar maker Porsche (Xetra: POR3.DE - news) fell after reporting a 15% decline in sales to €4.64bn in the nine-month ended April.

"In light of the extremely poor business in the first three months of 2009, we still believe that it will not be possible to match the earnings level of prior years," it said.

In economic news, European Union leaders continue to discuss tighter financial supervision across the 27-nation bloc on the second day of their two day summit in Brussels.

CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers EADS (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) (EAD) € 11.74 +3.21% ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 23.70 +2.84% Veolia Environnement (Paris: FR0000124141 - news) (VIE) € 21.04 +2.78% Saint Gobain (Paris: FR0000125007 - news) (SGO) € 24.65 +2.07% Dexia (DEXB) € 5.60 +2.00% Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) (LG (003550.KS - news) ) € 47.22 +1.90% Societe Generale (GLE) € 40.53 +1.55% Alcatel (Paris: FR0000130007 - news) -Lucent (ALU) € 1.90 +1.55% PPR (Paris: FR0000121485 - news) (PP) € 56.07 +1.39% Vallourec (VK) € 85.23 +1.37%

CAC 40 - Fallers Michelin (Paris: FR0000121261 - news) (ML) € 39.90 -0.82% Vivendi (Paris: FR0000127771 - news) (VIV) € 17.93 -0.77% Carrefour (CA) € 28.79 -0.67% Renault (RNO) € 26.74 -0.61% Lagardere SCA (MMB) € 23.13 -0.58% Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM (AF (Stockholm: 45674.ST - news) ) € 9.27 -0.47% Total (FP) € 38.78 -0.45% BNP Paribas (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) (BNP) € 46.86 -0.42% Bouygues (EN) € 26.13 -0.40% L'Oreal (Paris: FR0000120321 - news) (OR) € 53.47 -0.25%