Stock markets mostly rose Friday, driven by investor optimism over AI and US rate-cut hopes, which overshadowed concerns about a government shutdown dragging on.

Wall Street's main indices drifted higher at the opening bell, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rising from record closes the day before.

While the gains have not been impressive, "what counts is that there still isn't any convincing show of selling force", said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 set an all-time high, led by banks and mining stocks.

While Frankfurt turned lower, the DAX 40 remains close to its record high and in Paris the CAC 40 hit its highest level since March before giving up its gains.

The rally in tech stocks was given another lift on Friday by an agreement betw

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