FrankfurT provided a representative performance, adding 36.20 at 5,097.48 on the Xetra Dax index for a net five-day loss of 1.3 per cent. Henkel surged 12.8 per cent after the company announced plans to spin off its chemicals operations into a separate company. The restructuring news prompted an immediate upgrade from Deutsche Bank from "neutral" to "outperform" and the shares ended €8.39 better at €74.20.
Adidas-Salomon jumped €6.20 or 8.5 per cent to €79.90 after an upbeat trading statement sparked positive broker comment.
BMW, boosted on Thursday by talk of senior management changes, stayed firmly in favour, gaining €9 at €669 for a two-day advance of 8 per cent.
Amsterdam ended a week of narrow trading where it started, closing 3.09 higher on the day at 534.36 on the AEX index against 532 last Friday.
Royal Dutch stayed firm on Middle East tensions, turning in the day's best performance and climbing €2 or 5.3 per cent to €39.65 in busy options-driven activity.
Vedior continued to climb steeply, adding a further €2.30 to €20.25 for a two-day gain of 25 per cent.
Paris slipped 0.5 per cent in volatile trading. Michelin was the best performer again, up €2.50 to €36, on continued speculation about restructuring in the sector after Goodyear's announced link-up with Sumitomo.
Semiconductor group STMicroelectronics, a volatile share that plunged from €84.30 in May to €30.95 last October before rocketing to €93.70 this week, fell €7.10 or 8 per cent to €82. Traders attributed the fall to the malaise among US chipmakers concerned about a price war between Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.
Alcatel was down €4.40 to €92.80 after Morgan Stanley cut its earnings per share estimates by 9 per cent for 1999 and 15 per cent for 2000.
Oil stocks were strong for a second day as uncertainty about Jordan and Iraq increased. Total, up €4.20 to €95.40, was catching up after Elf's strong gains on Thursday. Elf was up 3.10 to 103.10.
The CAC 40 closed 20.12 off to 4,147.30.
Zurich was little changed with the SMI index registering a loss of just 0.2 at 7,137.0. ABB remained in the spotlight after Thursday's results, putting on another SFr76 to SFr1,798, +15.6 per cent on the week.
Milan finished an uncertain session easier, with the real-time Mibtel index 33 lower at 23,405.
Telecom Italia quickly overcame a weak start to close at a record high, spurred on by speculation that an investor was building up a stake for a possible takeover bid. The shares closed 22.1 cents higher at 8.84.
