European shares higher on Brexit and trade talk hopes

European stocks rose for the third straight day on Friday on optimism around U.S.-China trade talks and London’s latest Brexit moves, while German software giant SAP headed for its best day since April after its longterm CEO stepped down.

The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.8% and was headed for its best week in more than a month after the opening rounds of Sino-U.S. trade negotiations ended with rising hopes for at least a partial trade deal. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Vice Premier Liu He and other senior officials will resume discussions on Friday.

Trade-sensitive Frankfurt shares eyed their best day in seven weeks, helped by the gains for SAP, Europe’s most valuable technology company. The enterprise software producer rose 7.8% to its highest level in more than two months after it released a strong set of third-quarter results early and said CEO Bill McDermott was stepping down after a decade at the helm.

Bucking the upbeat trend, London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.2% as shares of internationally-focused firms took a beating from gains for the pound. The chief Brexit negotiators of the EU and Britain met for breakfast on Friday, hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart unexpectedly said they had found a pathway to a possible deal at last-ditch talks.

Publicis tumbled 11.6% to a seven-year low after the ad firm lowered its full-year sales target for the second time in 2019. Its London rival WPP lost 4.1%. Fashion house Hugo Boss sank 13.3% to its lowest in almost a decade after the company cut its 2019 earnings forecast and reported third quarter results below expectations. Those numbers came hard on the heels of a strong sales update from Louis Vuitton owner LVMH on Thursday.