European Stocks Wave, but Set for Best Weekly Gain in a Month

European stocks drifted between small losses and gains Friday, but headed for a weekly advance after a bumpy series of sessions in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.

After dipping into the red, the Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.4% at 382.29. Mining, consumer goods and health-care shares were pushing higher but energy and financial stocks struggled.

National-stock indexes were mixed after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, in a speech in Frankfurt, once again signaled that more stimulus efforts for the eurozone economy is likely in the pipeline.

“If we decide that the current trajectory of our policy is not sufficient to achieve our objective, we will do what we must to raise inflation as quickly as possible. That is what our price stability mandate requires of us,” Draghi will tell the audience, according to a text of the speech released by the ECB.

The pan-European index was still moving toward a 3.3% rise for the week. That would be its best weekly performance in a month.

Investors on Friday appeared to be booking some gains made throughout the week, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. “We’ve seen a bit of light week in terms of data. We’ve heard these comments from Draghi…but from the market’s perspective, we haven’t really learned anything new,” he said. “We’ve seen a very strong market since the start of October and given the fact that we’re lacking any new information…what we’re seeing is waiting for more attractive levels to come back.”

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