Europe stocks stage late rally after dismal week

European shares staged a late rally on Friday following a torrid week, helped by hopes of further measures from the European Central Bank to ease the region's debt crisis, while French banks strongly recovered.
BNP Paribas surged 11% and Societe Generale soared 6.9%, with traders citing market talk of help from the French government with some form of capital injection to bolster the banks' balance sheets.
Spokeswomen for SocGen and BNP declined to comment.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally ended 0.7% higher at 880.97 points in a choppy session. The index posted a weekly loss of 6.1%, its second worst weekly performance in 16 months.
"The market has had a terrible week, and this is all happening while there's a short selling ban on financials," Derek Lawless, head of WorldSpreads France, said.
"There's an underlying feeling that something isn't right in the financial system, that politicians aren't telling the truth."