Europe seen higher on market rebound

European equities are expected to open higher on Friday as global markets rebounded from a short-lived rout and oil prices recover slightly.

The FTSE is seen higher by 15 points at 6,825, the German DAX up 53 points at 10,790 and the French CAC up 28 points at 4,659.

Asian equity markets outside China traded higher on the final trading day of the week, as energy markets recovered and as traders digest the raft of earnings releases in Tokyo and Seoul.

After touching a multi-year low, U.S. crude futures' were trading up 8 cents, at $44.53 a barrel. Front-month Brent showed a 70-cent gain at $49 a barrel. Still, oil prices have still fallen around 60 percent since last June on the back of a glut in supply and lack of demand.

Overnight, U.S. stocks bounced back from a two-day rout, buoyed in part by strong job market data, which helped to offset dismal earnings from the likes of Alibaba and Qualcomm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.3 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 1 percent each.

In Europe news, foreign ministers in the EU extended existing sanctions against Russia on Thursday, holding off on tighter economic measures for now but winning the support of the new left-leaning government of Greece, whose position had been in doubt, Reuters reported.

The ministers agreed to extend until September travel bans and asset freezes imposed last year that had been due to expire, the news agency added.

Fears that Greece could veto measures may have failed to materialize but Greece was warned by a senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party on Thursday against using a veto of sanctions against Russia as a bargaining chip in talks over Greece's bail-out program.

In Italy, lawmakers failed to elect a president in the first round of voting Thursday. No candidate came close to the required threshold of two thirds of those eligible to vote.

On Friday, earnings are due from Novo Nordisk, St Dupont, ThyssenKrupp, Caixabank and BT.