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* Germany's SAP eyes best day since April after CEO exit
* Second day of U.S.-China trade talks resume on Friday
* Ireland says can see path to a Brexit deal
* Publicis hits seven-year low after forecast cut
* Hugo Boss hits lowest in a nearly a decade
(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal
Oct 11 (Reuters) - European stocks rose for the third
straight day on Friday on optimism around U.S.-China trade talks
and London's latest Brexit moves, while German software giant
SAP headed for its best day since April after its long-term CEO
stepped down.
The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.8% and was
headed for its best week in more than a month after the opening
rounds of Sino-U.S. trade negotiations ended with rising hopes
for at least a partial trade deal.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Vice Premier Liu He
and other senior officials will resume discussions on Friday.
"Investors are ready to celebrate any form of a U.S.-China
trade deal, even an interim one, having endured trade-related
volatility since May," said Han Tan, market analyst at FXTM.
However, some analysts cautioned that the optimism for a
deal might be overblown.
"Even if there were a partial deal, that would not change
the overall situation because the U.S. would not address what
their issues with China really are in terms of intellectual
property and unfair competition," said Simona Gambarini, markets
economist at Capital Economics.
Trade-sensitive Frankfurt shares eyed their best
day in seven weeks, helped by the gains for SAP, Europe's most
valuable technology company.
The enterprise software producer rose 7.8% to its highest
level in more than two months after it released a strong set of
third-quarter results early and said CEO Bill McDermott was
stepping down after a decade at the helm.
Bucking the upbeat trend, London's FTSE 100 shed
0.2% as shares of internationally-focused firms took a beating
from gains for the pound.
The chief Brexit negotiators of the EU and Britain met for
breakfast on Friday, hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson
and his Irish counterpart unexpectedly said they had found a
pathway to a possible deal at last-ditch talks.
Publicis tumbled 11.6% to a seven-year low after
the ad firm lowered its full-year sales target for the second
time in 2019. Its London rival WPP lost 4.1%.
Fashion house Hugo Boss sank 13.3% to its lowest
in almost a decade after the company cut its 2019 earnings
forecast and reported third quarter results below expectations.
Those numbers came hard on the heels of a strong sales
update from Louis Vuitton owner LVMH on Thursday.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr
and Patrick Graham)
