Most European markets ended a volatile session flatly, taking their cue from Wall Street's nervous reaction to much stronger than expected US output growth.
Bracing themselves for bad news ahead of next week's meeting of the Federal Reserve monetary policy committee, investors needed little incentive to lock in recent profits.
Paris managed to sidestep the regional downturn thanks to a clutch of strong individual share price performances which left the CAC-40 index 42.70 higher at 5,731.05.
Conglomerate Suez-Lyonnais gained 9.4 per cent, closing up €13.10 at €152.10, after it announced it would bid for licences to enter the fixed and mobile telecoms sectors. Last year, the stock performed poorly.
Vivendi climbed €1.45 to €99.90 amid market hopes for news about talks with various partners, including Mannesmann, Vodafone AirTouch and British Telecom.
Trading in Thomson Multimedia was halted as it hit its upper limit of a 10 per cent increase for the third day running. The stock gained €6.90 to €82.90 on talk that it might join the CAC index and that the electronics goods maker is forming a joint venture in interactive TV with Gemstar of the US.
Frankfurt finished with the Xetra DAX index off 59.53 at 7,066.60 in very moderate trading volumes. Deutsche Telekom ran into profit-taking after a week of gains driven by talk of a big acquisition. The shares fell €3.60 to €71.90. DaimlerChrysler, up 4.1 per cent on Thursday, shed €1.70 at €68.15.
Amsterdam finished 2.41 lower at 632.46 on the AEX index after a low-volume session. The uncertain outlook for interest rates continued to weigh heavily on financials. Aegon came off €1.50 at €77.25 and ING shed 18 cents at €53.39.
Among internationals, Philips gained €4.30 to €155.80 and Unilever, hit lately by concern about next month's results, rallied 25 cents to €47.95. Market heavyweight Royal Dutch subsided €1.45 €56.40.
