European stocks mark highest closing since early November

European Shares traded higher on Friday and managed their highest close since early November. Investor sentiment was lifted by better-than expected U.S. July existing homes sales. The major gainers were the banking stocks.

The closing of the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares came at 2.3 percent at 966.87 points. It should be noted that index apart from being up about 16 percent for the year, has hiked almost 50 percent since reaching a lifetime low in early March.