European stocks end positive after touching fresh record high

European stocks ended higher on Friday, building on momentum that has pushed regional indexes higher this week.

The pan-European Stoxx 600

 closed the session up 0.5%, having added 0.5% in Thursday’s session after reaching a record high earlier in the day, marking the index’s fifth consecutive day of gains.

Major bourses across the region made gains on Friday. London’s FTSE 100

 index — which also hit an all-time high earlier this week — was up 0.7% at the close, while Switzerland’s SMI added 0.6% and Italy’s FTSE MIB ended 0.4% higher.

Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank advanced 7.4% to top the Stoxx 600 at the end of Friday trade. The Financial Times reported on Friday that the European Union was planning to lift sanctions on a Russian oligarch in order to compensate Raiffeisen for damages it owed in Russia.

Raiffeisen has the largest remaining Russian operation of any western bank. News agency Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported earlier this week that the lender had failed in its latest attempt to offload a stake in its Russian business.