By Anisha Sircar

(Reuters] European stocks rose to near 6-week highs on Friday after a shock interest payment by China Evergrande Group helped lift the spirits. Technology stocks surged and L’Oreal’s strong earnings provided additional support.

It gained 0.5%, and it was poised to record its third straight week of gains. This is in line with Asian peers that climbed after hearing the bond payment made by a Chinese property developer to avoid default.

European household and personal items as well tech were the top gainers, rising 1.6% each.

France’s blue-chip grew 1.1% and beat its European peers. It was driven by a 6.5% rise in L’Oreal shares due to the strong results of cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal.

After falling earlier in the week due to their results, shares of ASML (the Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer) and SAP (the German software company) rose by around 2%.

“We’ve got lots of earnings beats because of lower expectations. Then you get comments from CEOs suggesting damage to supply chains – however, some firms have indicated that they’re in control of this,” Keith Temperton of Forte Securities, a sales trader. That’s good news for markets.

Wall Street’s earnings were buoyant and pushed it to record heights on Thursday. Its European counterpart is now less than 1 percent off its August peak.

Europe Inc expects to experience a 47.6% gain in its third-quarter profits to $96.1 billion ($112 billion), the latest Refinitiv data showed. This slight increase is compared to last week’s 46.7% growth.

The survey showing that eurozone business activity declined in October was ignored by investors. This is because firms are facing rising costs and the ongoing COVID-19 issues mean that their dominant industry, service, has been struggling.

Inflation expectations for the Eurozone reached their highest level in many years. This puts additional pressure on European Central Bank’s insistence on maintaining crisis-era stimuli. Next week, the central bank will meet. [GVD/EUR]

Temperton stated, “The transitory nature inflation is becoming more stickier”

France Renault The PA: fell 1.8% following the announcement by the automaker that its production losses for this year were much greater than originally forecasted due to the shortage of global chips.

Boliden, a Swedish mining company, also saw a 4.9% drop in operating profits as third quarter results fell short of market expectations. This was due to lower volumes and higher costs.