LONDON — European markets are heading for a fractionally lower open Friday, but are on course for a positive week, as a retreat in bond yields eased global jitters about rising inflation.
Britain's FTSE 100 is seen around 21 points lower at 6,716, Germany's DAX is set to fall by around 21 points to 14,548 and France's CAC 40 is expected to inch around 6 points lower to 6,028, according to IG data.
European shares are set to receive a strong handover from Asia-Pacific, where markets broadly advanced during Friday's trade after the S&P 500 hit record highs in U.S. trading hours Thursday.
The momentum on Wall Street came after U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans. Futures tied to the major U.S. indexes were mixed in early premarket trade on Friday.
Back in Europe, the European Central Bank on Thursday vowed to ramp up its bond buying efforts "significantly" in the second quarter after borrowing costs rose across the continent, with European bond yields following U.S. Treasury yields higher.
Investors were worried that rising bond yields could derail Europe's economic recovery, by increasing the borrowing costs for countries that are already struggling with the coronavirus crisis.
The European Union on Thursday approved Johnson & Johnson's single-shot Covid-19 vaccine as the bloc looks to jumpstart its sluggish vaccination rollout.
Meanwhile, Canada has insisted that the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford inoculation is safe after its use was suspended in Denmark, Norway and Iceland over reports about blood clotting in some people who had received the shot.
On the data front, U.K.'s GDP growth estimates for January are due Friday morning, along with euro zone industrial production data for January and a raft of February inflation figures from Germany and Spain.
British property developers Hammerson and Berkeley Group will report earnings before the bell.
- CNBC's Saheli Roy Choudhury contributed to this report.
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