European shares rose further on Friday, led higher by banks as a short-selling ban on financial shares by France, Italy, Spain and Belgium appeared to have clam some market jitters.

By 4:51 a.m. EDT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 was up 1.5 percent at 948.46 points, after falling as low as 921.63 points earlier in the session.

Analysts said investors were also buying beaten-down stocks.

"Bargain hunters are coming out and trying to take advantage of, in some cases, historically low valuations. The corporate results remain supportive," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth.

Barclays Barclays