12:22 PM EDT, 09/27/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed higher in Friday trading as The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.52%, the Swiss Market Index was up 0.20%, France's CAC rose 0.64%, the FTSE in London increased 0.43%, and Germany's DAX climbed 1.26%.

The European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicator was unchanged at 96.7 in the European Union in September, and the index in the euro area declined 0.3 points to 96.2. Meanwhile, the Employment Expectations Indicator rose 0.3 points to 100 in the EU and was up 0.1 points to 99.5 in the euro area.

In France, the consumer price index is expected to rise 1.2% in September compared with a year earlier, down from a 1.8% annual increase in August, according to the provisional estimates from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. INSEE attributed the "sharp decrease in inflation" to falling energy prices, particularly those of petroleum products.

INSEE also reported that overall producer prices in France rose 0.1% in August following a 0.2% gain in July as producer prices for products in the French market continue to rise.

In Germany, seasonally adjusted employment figures declined slightly in August from the previous month when employment rose slightly, according to Germany's Federal Statistical Office.

In Italy, industrial producer prices increased 0.7% in August, compared with the previous month, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics.

And in corporate news, Meta Platforms' Irish unit was fined 91 million euros ($101.6 million) by the country's Data Protection Commission for violating the General Data Protection Regulation. The fine followed an investigation of Meta Ireland's inadvertent storage of social media user passwords in plaintext on its internal systems, the Irish Data Protection Commission said Friday.

Italian oil and gas company Eni has been contacted by suitors, including Stonepeak, for a potential sale of a second stake in its Enilive biofuel unit, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two sources. KKR and Stonepeak didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from MT Newswires. Eni declined to comment.

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said Friday that Dupixent, or dupilumab, has received separate approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration and China's National Medical Products Administration to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

And Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile US' Q3 earnings are expected to be affected by lower equipment revenue, increased costs, and Ka'ena-related expenses, RBC Capital Markets said in a note late Thursday.