FTSE, DAX, CAC Seen Higher; Lloyds to Report

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LinksList Documentid: 35819650Published: Friday, 24 Feb 2012 | 1:18 AM ET

European shares were called higher Friday on the back of gains in the Asian markets overnight, boosted by positive data from the U.S. for both the labor and housing markets.

The FTSE 100 [.FTSE  Loading...      ()   ] is seen higher by 16 points, the DAX [.GDAXI  Loading...      ()   ] higher by 30 points and the CAC 40 [.FCHI  Loading...      ()   ] up 19 points.

Greece is expected to start its bond swap on Friday following the approval by parliament of a law to endorse the swap which will see private investors take a 53.5 percent hit on their holdings but in reality could be over 70 percent.

The swap is intended to wipe around 100 billion euros off liabilities.

Italy will be tendering between 2 billion to 2.5 billion euros worth of short-dated bonds and up to half a billion in longer dated bonds, both at 10.00 GMT.

In earnings news Lloyds Banking Group [LLOY-LN  Loading...      ()   ] , the part state-owned UK bank will post its fourth quarter and full-year earnings before Friday's market open.

Like Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS-LN  Loading...      ()   ] on Thursday, the bank is expected to report a loss of 2011.

Reuters reported that Spain has asked the European Commission to ease strict budget deficit targets for the country, arguing that it needs more leeway to get through the downturn.

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