EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Set To Snap String Of Weekly Wins

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Novo Nordisk rallies

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks were gaining ground Friday, but the region's key benchmark was on track to break a lengthy string of weekly wins.

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% to 396.79, with only the basic resources and energy sectors in the red. Most commodity prices were lower on Friday, but were set for weekly gains, including a 7% jump in oil futures (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-oil-prices-fall-as-yemen-conflict-escalates-2015-03-27).

Standing out on Friday were shares of Novo Nordisk A/S , leaping 9% after the Danish pharmaceutical company said it would resubmit applications for its Tresiba and Ryzodeg insulin treatments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Because the company's medium-term growth projections depend on U.S. Tresiba this is a positive for sentiment," analysts at Barclays said in a Friday note.

But the Stoxx 600 still faced a 1.8% loss for the week. That would follow seven weeks of gains. The last run of eight weekly wins ended in June 2014.

After a sparkling run of 10 weekly gains, Germany's DAX 30 was on track for a 1.4% decline. On Friday, the DAX edged up 0.2% to 11,866.03, led by a 3.5% rise for Adidas AG .The German index this year has hit 26 record-closing highs, according to FactSet, with the last one at 12,167.72.

This week marked "another week of chunky inflows to EU funds," clocking in at $5.4 billion, said Bank of America-Merrill Lynch on Friday. But the analysts also noted that in 2013 "euphoric inflows to Japanese equity funds peaked" eight weeks after the Bank of Japan unveiled its quantitative easing program (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-delivers-big-easing-2013-04-04) and that a "similar trend" in Europe implies flows are peaking.

European equities this year have been hitting record and multiyear highs, but they came under notable pressure this week in part as the euro (EURUSD) regained ground against the U.S. dollar. A lower euro has been a benefit for European exporters. On Friday, the euro was buying $1.0874 compared with $1.0886 late Thursday.

In Paris, the CAC 40 on Friday rose 0.5% to 5,031.03, and Spain's IBEX 35 rose 0.1% to 11,466.10. Read: Don't miss this 'gem' in Europe's stock market, says Barclays (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-miss-this-gem-in-europes-stock-market-says-barclays-2015-03-26)

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-faces-weekly-loss-as-miners-lead-a-decline-2015-03-27) fell 0.5% to 6,860.42, weighed by losses among mining and energy shares. Meanwhile, the pound (GBPUSD) rose above $1.49 after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney reiterated his view that the next move in U.K. interest rates would be higher.

Greece's Athex Composite rose 0.4% to 767.88 in a seesaw session. Greece later Friday was set to submit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-to-submit-reform-proposal-later-friday-report-2015-03-27) a list of economic reforms to its creditors, with the move aimed at securing more funding for the debt-troubled country.

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