European benchmarks surged on Friday following another volley of corporate earnings numbers and solid trade data from China for January European benchmarks were broadly higher on Friday as investors reacted to yet more corporate earnings numbers and some solid Chinese data that helped to boost commodity shares across the continent. The FTSE 100 rose by 0.40% to 7,258, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index struck a new high of 18,723, before closing the session 0.47% higher at 18,715.