Paris ended lower for the fourth day running with the CAC-40 index slipping 17.32 to 4,416.89 for a net decline of 2.8 per cent in a week dominated by talk of higher US interest rates.
Elf Aquitaine lobbed a hand grenade into the global oil sector by asking analysts to downgrade their earnings forecasts for the first half of this year.
There was no official comment from Elf, but brokers confirmed the company had warned selected analysts to cut back estimates as a result of problems within its chemicals operations.
Elf tumbled €6.50 or 4.6 per cent to €136 and Total lost €3 at €120.50. Neither stock was heavily traded.
Motor and motor component stocks were more resilient. Renault gained 29 cents at €44.44. Valeo added €2.15 at €77.15 and Michelin improved 90 cents at €39.
Frankfurt had a volatile day, sinking as low as 5,287.27 on the Xetra DAX index in early trading. The benchmark spent much of the afternoon in positive territory, but succumbed to late selling to close off 26.39 at 5,301.21.
Deutsche Telekom stayed weak ahead of an equity issue which gets underway on Monday. The shares ended 70 cents lower at €41.68 for a five-day decline of almost 8 per cent.
BMW, weak in recent sessions on the news of $5 billion (€4.78 billion) investment plans for its British Rover offshoot, rallied strongly, adding €15.80 at €674.
Truckmaker MAN and chemicals group Degussa-Huels were among the best performers, attracting attention amid hopes for economic revival. MAN added €1.33 at €33 and Degussa 91 cents at €40.90.
Amsterdam ended lower with the AEX index slipping a further 5.47 to 561.65 on steady selling of blue chips.
In financials, Aegon lost €1.60 at €74.85 and ING €1.05 at €51.30. Unilever shed €1.10 at €66.05 in spite of positive comment from Goldman Sachs ahead of second-quarter results. Market heavyweight Royal Dutch came off 80 cents at €56.50.
Zurich was enlivened by activity in ABB, the Swiss-Swedish engineering giant whose unified share starts trading next week. The new shares will have a heavier weighting in stock indices, which will prompt renewed demand from index-oriented investors. ABB, which is also paying out special dividends on the old bearer and registered stock, put on 75 Swiss francs to SFr2,450 (€1,533).
Milan's day was brightened by the debut of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, following a $2 billion public offering at €3.85 per share that was 10 times subscribed. The shares climbed to a high of €4.29 but pulled back to close at €4.24 with almost 90 million shares traded. The Mibtel index finished 88 lower at 24,516.
