European markets ended a sticky week on a sour note after strong figures for US economic growth revived worries about rising global interest rates.
Frankfurt lost ground for the sixth consecutive day to send the Xetra DAX index down 62.25 to 7,121.19 in spite of a strong performance by motor stocks.
Volkswagen jumped €1.26 to €46.81 in 4.6 million shares traded after turning in stronger than expected first-half results. The stock hit an intra-day high of €48.40.
VW's good figures also put fresh heart into DaimlerChrysler. Hit hard recently by negative broker comment, the shares rallied 77 cents to €57.11.
By 5.30 p.m. German time, the Xetra DAX index was down 62.25 at 7,121.19.
Paris moved lower on a day when company results, led by disappointing figures from motor giant Renault, and weak tech stocks were in charge of direction.
Renault hit a low of €44.80 before closing off €2.45 or 5.1 per cent at €45.50 in spite of one-off factors accounting for a large part of a steep slide in first-half results.
Foods group Danone continued to gain ground as a wave of broker upgrades caught up with Thursday's upbeat trading statement. The shares rose €9 to €157.
In technology shares, Equant fell €3.85 or 9.3 per cent to €37.75 and France Telecom €7.80 or 5.5 per cent to €133.
Alcatel, hit by profit-taking after Thursday's results-led gains, fell €3.15 to €77.35. At the close, the CAC-40 index was off 95.81 at 6,415.72.
Helsinki rallied as buyers returned to market heavyweight Nokia in the wake of the mobile handset giant's dramatic shakeout on Thursday.
Warnings of a third-quarter slowdown cut more than 15 per cent off the shares in the preceding session, but by the close they had regained €1.95 to €46.95 in volume of 45.7 million shares.
Sonera came off 90 cents at €42.90 amid talk that the telecoms group was about to put itself up for auction.
The Hex index, which racked up a record one-day fall on Thursday, rose 347.60 to 13,835.45.
Amsterdam gave up 8.37 at 663.72 on the AEX index with heavy falls for technology-related stocks countering a strong performance from Royal Dutch.
