European stock markets closed mostly higher on Friday, as falling oil prices boosted enthusiasm but an uncertain morning on Wall Street tempered it, dealers said.
The London FTSE 100 index added 0.13 percent at 4,983.6 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 gained 0.24 percent at 4,400.68 points and the Paris CAC 40 was flat, with a loss of 0.08 percent at 4,124.29.
The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares slipped 0.06 percent to 3,088.92 points.
The euro stood at US$1.2919.
A dealer said while "the mood is positive," a lack of local news to sustain gains prompted many players to abandon positions ahead of the weekend.
"There is not much news to drive the market today ... really it's just what the US market does," a London-based dealer said.
US stocks suffered in early deals as economic concerns outweighed weaker oil prices and talk of a possible US$18 billion agreement between Time Warner and Comcast to buy cable group Adephia.
By London's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 50.80 points at 10,495.50, while the NASDAQ was down 11.48 points at 2,007.31.
In London, Boots led the blue-chip gainers, up 3.09 percent at £6.3450 after the Wall Street Journal reported that private-equity houses including Blackstone, Texas Pacific, CVC and Cinven were mulling bids for the struggling UK retailer.
The mining sector also remained in favor following a good performance in Australia overnight and lifted by positive comments from Deutsche Bank on Xstrata.
Xstrata jumped 2.14 percent to £10.49 after Deutsche argued in a note to clients that fundamentals for Xstrata's core commodities of coal, copper, ferrochrome and zinc remain attractive.
And in Frankfurt, DaimlerChrysler dipped 0.34 percent, off earlier highs, to 32.72 euros after the auto giant claimed a legal victory late Thursday after a US court ruled in its favor against disgruntled billionaire Kirk Kerkorian who had challenged the 1998 Daimler-Chrysler merger.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Swiss SMI index dipped 0.12 percent to 6,016.57 points.
The Amsterdam AEX rose 0.20 percent to 373.61 points, the Brussels BEL-20 edged up 0.16 percent to 3,182.23, the Madrid IBEX-35 closed flat, off 0.07 percent at 9,385.8 and the Milan SP/MIB dropped 0.13 percent to 32,812.0.
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