Early telecoms-led strength for European shares petered out in late trading and markets ended little changed on both the day and the week.
Frankfurt powered forward from the opening bell, with Deutsche Telekom surging on the back of robust results from UK rival British Telecommunications. Telekom ended up €2 at €38.60, but the Xetra Dax index could manage only a 27.45 gain to 4,896.74 after a session peak of 4,995.53.
Viag moved up €7 to €489 following a round of broker upgrades on the back of better-than-expected results.
BMW rallied, adding €17 at €724, on a revival of takeover speculation after media reports that Volkswagen was keen to take a stake in the company. VW added €1.34 at €65.50.
Among lesser caps, Rheinmetall rose 95 cents to €21.05 after the group announced that it was close to agreement on a UK acquisition.
Paris failed to keep in step with the modestly improved trend across Europe, dipping 11.98 to 4,060.36 on the CAC-40 index as the banking and oil sectors lost ground.
BNP shed €1.70 to €74.30, while Elf Aquitaine came off €3.55, or 3.7 per cent, to €91.30. Glass leader Saint Gobain fell €5.5 to €128.8.
Amsterdam pushed the AEX index up 5.26 to 523.33, helped by a 5.2 per cent surge for top retailer Ahold, which rose €1.75 to €35.15.
Milan ended off its best levels, although a handful of blue chips closed with healthy gains. The real-time Mibtel index finished 194 higher at 23,205.
Telecom Italia Mobile put on 25 cents to €5.55 as investors reversed last week's trend by switching out of Telecom Italia. TIM was spurred on by talk that it could launch an Internet-linked service, while Telecom Italia was flat at €8.38, held back by the view that its planned deal with Rupert Murdoch is on the rocks.
Fiat shifted into reverse after Thursday's strong performance as the market became cautious about hopes for a cut in taxes on new cars in its key Brazilian market. Shares eased 9 cents to €2.84. Analysts noted that Fiat had also declined to comment on press reports that it was still in talks with Swedish car and truck maker Volvo.
Defence and engineering group Finmeccanica put on 5 cents to €1.11 in heavy volume on hopes of restructuring in the sector. Madrid gave up most of its morning gains under the influence of a falling Dow. The general index turned back from a high of 877.46 to close up €3.28 at €864.86. Energy group Repsol eased 18 cents to €48.29 ahead of publication of 1998 results on Monday.
