Upturn in Volatile European Stock Markets

The technology sector is helping to stabilise the European stock market. Sudden interest in new communication technology like video-conferencing and the launch of new consumer technology like Microsoft's Xbox, are all providing a solid base for the volatile European stock market.

European shares are recovering as the Munich-based technology company, Siemens, leads the technology sector back toward its three-month highs. Siemens remains among the top blue chip gainers and is giving a cautiously optimistic outlook to its investors.

Bayer, the German drug giant's shares' also shot-up as investors cheered Thursday's deal to co-promote a new anti-impotence medicine with GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

The basic producers, media, telecoms, industrials and auto sectors are also getting stronger.

The OPEC failed to push ahead with actual cuts in output to shore up its market. As a result, the energy sector continued to loose value on the back of two-year lows in crude oil prices but picked up again on Friday morning.

"When expectations on the oil price are changing this quickly it is a market event rather than simply a sector event," said Alain Bokobza, European equity strategist at SG Securities in Paris.

European markets are up approximately 20 percent or more since hitting three-year lows on September 21.

"We should not forget where the market is coming from, this is a move up you don't normally get in two years," said Udo Becker, a dealer at Munich private bank Merck Finck.