Europe Stocks Drop, Euro Rises After Downbeat Week
European stock markets retreated on Friday, extending the week's heavy losses, but the euro rose against the dollar in the absence of major U.S. economic indicators, traders said.
London's FTSE 100 benchmark index of leading shares dipped 0.12 percent to 5,838.82 points approaching midday in the British capital.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.17 percent to 6,970.72 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.44 percent to 3,457.62.
The euro firmed to $1.3253 from $1.3196 in New York late on Thursday.
"The tide turned for equities this week as investor's risk appetite waned," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at brokers Interactive Investor.
"A potential slowdown in global manufacturing and fears for Chinese growth affected markets worldwide, with Asia having their worst week of the year."
European stocks had profited in recent weeks following the continent's success in helping Greece avoid a messy default. As governments make progress in paying down their huge deficits, so are companies reducing their debt piles.
British telecoms firm BT said on Friday that it planned to spend £2.0 billion (2.4 billion euros, $3.17 billion) on almost halving its pension scheme deficit.
BT said it had struck a deal with the trustee of Britain's biggest private-sector pension plan to reduce the company's £4.1-billion pension fund shortfall -- a move that sparked big demand for its shares.
BT shares jumped 5.0 percent to 231.4 pence on Friday, topping the FTSE 100 in the process.
The British company had "pulled an early Easter pensions bunny out of the hat," Deutsche Bank said in a research note to clients.
Elsewhere on Friday, Asian stock markets mostly closed lower, a day after worse-than-expected economic data from China and Europe stoked fresh concerns over global economic growth.
This has contributed to an end to global stock markets' impressive rally since the turn of the year, also on the back of consistently upbeat U.S. jobs data.
"The six month equity rally has been built on lower than normal volumes, so investors are worried that the foundations are not as strong as they might be," said O'Keeffe.
"And with some markets reaching four-year highs, it is not a surprise that some money is being taken off the table," she added.
Sentiment has turned sour as data showed manufacturing activity in China, the world's number two economy, hit a four-month low, while separate figures indicated that the eurozone was in recession.
Adding to the downbeat numbers was news on Thursday that the economy of bailed-out Ireland shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter, following a 1.1 percent contraction in the previous three months, placing the eurozone country back into recession.
U.S. stock indices closed lower on Thursday, as the poor economic news from Europe and China overshadowed more positive data about the domestic U.S. jobs market.
"Neither corporate news nor a multi-year low in weekly initial jobless claims have been able to meaningfully improve sentiment," said analysts at Briefing.com.