(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)
Feb 24 (Reuters) - European shares opened higher on
Friday, boosted by upbeat earnings reports from French
construction materials giant Saint-Gobain and Swedish radiation
therapy equipment Elekta.
The STOXX 600 index climbed 0.4% by 0811 GMT,
keeping with a rise in Asian markets after the Bank of Japan
ruling out an early end to super-easy monetary policy pushed
bond yields lower globally.
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain gained 5.5%, pushing the
European construction and materials index up 0.8% after
it posted record annual revenue that exceeded analysts'
expectations on strong growth in all its regions on Thursday.
Elekta jumped 7.7%, to the top of the STOXX 600
after positive third-quarter earnings.
German chemicals giant BASF SE fell 3.7% as it
flagged a decline in annual earnings and said it plans to cut
2,600 jobs and halt buybacks.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; editing by
Uttaresh.V)
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