Gains in airlines and mining stocks helped European shares rise in early trading on Friday, on a day the UK officially ends its 40-year membership of the EU.
The pan-European STOXX 600, which was up 0.3 per cent by 0811 GMT, was still looking at its second straight weekly decline on concerns about the coronavirus outbreak in China, which has now taken more than 200 lives.
Investors also took heart that the World Health Organisation (WHO) stopped short of travel and trade restrictions with China, even as it declared the virus outbreak a global emergency.
Travel and leisure as well as the mining sub-sector, which are among the worst hit European sub-indexes this week, outperformed.
Spain's Banco Sabadell tumbled 7.3 per cent after the lender swung to a loss in the fourth quarter from a profit a year earlier due to higher-than-expected bad loan provisions and losses at its British unit TSB.
Brexit day, which comes three-and-a-half years after the UK first voted to leave the bloc, is not expected to move markets, analysts said.
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