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Paris - European stocks regained some poise on Friday after the previous session's sharp sell-off, led by shares of easyJet rising after the airline lifted its earnings forecasts.
Banking shares also featured among the top gainers, with Italy's Intesa SanPaolo up 2.3% and Spain's Bankinter up 2.1%.
The Stoxx 600 eurozone banking index had tumbled 4% on Thursday, dropping after the European Central Bank (ECB) gave no new hints over the prospect of an imminent sovereign bond buying programme, leading some in the market to scale back bets on this happening.
Investors were also rattled by the lack of specific details about the ECB's plan to buy asset-backed securities (ABS).
"Market participants are disappointed. There are still a lot of question marks on the ECB's action plan," said Judith Danan, head of sales trading at CMC Markets France.
"Beyond the T-LTROs (targeted longer-term refinancing operations) and the plan to buy ABS, the central bank doesn't really seem ready to launch a quantitative easing programme, at least not in the short term."
At 13:17, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.5% at 1 341.11 points, after dropping 2.4% on Thursday.
Despite the day's gain, the index is set to post a loss of 2.6% for the week, which would be its biggest weekly loss since early August.
Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index was up 0.9%, France's CAC 40 up 0.5% and Italy's FTSE MIB up 0.7%. The German market was closed for a public holiday.
Shares in easyJet surged 6.2% after the group increased its earnings target by as much as 6%.
Shares in Tesco fell 3%, hit by speculation the struggling UK retailer could launch a rights issue. Tesco declined to comment.
Later in the session, investors will turn to US non-farm payrolls data, due at 14:30, for indications about the strength of the world's largest economy and the potential timing of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike.
Economists polled by Reuters expect US employers to have hired 215 000 workers in September, up from a disappointing 142 000 in August.
"A strong NFP (non-farm payrolls) report might initially spark concerns that rates might rise quicker than expected," said Markus Huber, a senior trader at Peregrine & Black, who was betting on a short-term rebound on the FTSE.
"A weak job report wouldn't bode necessarily well for stocks today, however, especially after the August report came in substantially lower than expected and fears would be set off that a new trend with lower job growth is in the making."
