On Friday European stocks climbed, extending the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s longest stretch of weekly gains in six months, as Group of 20 finance ministers meet in Paris to discuss the euro area’s debt crisis. U.S. index futures gained, while Asian shares retreated.

Syngenta AG led chemical makers higher, jumping 3.5 percent after reporting third-quarter sales that beat analysts’ estimates. MAN SE rallied more than 2 percent after U.S. haulier J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. posted earnings that topped forecasts. Banks limited gains in Europe after Fitch Ratings downgraded UBS AG and put more than a dozen other lenders on watch negative as part of a global review.

The Stoxx 600 rose 0.9 percent in London, extending its weekly advance to 2.9 percent. G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meet in Paris today and tomorrow, while European leaders will meet at a debt- crisis summit in Brussels on the 23rd October.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 is headed for a third week of gains amid optimism euro-area policy makers will contain the region’s debt crisis. From the 4th October through the 12th October the measure rallied 10 percent for its biggest advance over six days since January 2009. The benchmark gauge has still fallen 19 percent from its high in February.

Stocks climbed during the day even after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spain’s credit rating for the third time in three years as slowing growth and rising defaults threaten banks. The rating company reduced Spain’s ranking by one level to AA-, S&P’s fourth-highest investment grade, with the outlook remaining negative, in a statement late yesterday.

Japanese stocks fell, paring a weekly advance. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.9 percent trimming its weekly advance to 1.7 percent. The broader Topix dropped 1.3 percent.