European stock markets fell on Friday as investors banked profits at the end of a strong first quarter, dealers said.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares dropped by 0.84 percent to 5,964.6 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.24 percent to 5,970.08 points and in Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.37 percent to 5,220.85 points.
The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares decreased by 0.54 percent to 3,853.74 points.
As European markets closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.23 percent to 11,176.87 points in New York.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index was up 0.21 percent at 2,345.75.
The broad Standard & Poor's index showed a slight gain of 0.09 percent to 1,301.39.
European markets, especially London, have posted gains during the first quarter on strong company earnings and takeover activity. On March 24 the FTSE 100 closed at 6,036.30 points, its highest finish since Feb. 19, 2001.
In London on Friday, heavyweight mining stocks fell on profit-taking. One day earlier, mining shares had soared as metals prices, including platinum, copper and zinc, hit historic high points on strong buying by speculative funds.
Mining giant Rio Tinto fell back 1.98 percent and rival Anglo American lost 1.16 percent.
Tate and Lyle, Europe's biggest sugar refiner, dropped 1.33 percent after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the food manufacturer owing to a mixed trading update earlier in the week.
ITV, the biggest British commercial television network, plunged 4.6 percent after it rejected an improved takeover offer from a consortium comprising the private equity groups Apax and Blackstone, and the US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The new bid had valued ITV at about £5.3 billion (US$9.2 billion). ITV had on March 22 rejected an initial bid by the consortium worth about £4.9 billion.
In Frankfurt, the German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse dipped 0.52 percent to 119.01 euros after its supervisory board had said late on Thursday that it welcomed the decision of its management board to launch concrete talks with Euronext on a potential merger.
Deutsche Boerse said on March 15 that it was interested in a merger of equals with Euronext, which operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Madrid exchanges. Euronext gained 3.34 percent to 68.05 euros in Paris tradin.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index was off by 0.82 percent at 468.69, the Swiss SMI slipped by 0.15 percent to 8,023.3, in Milan the SP/MIB shed 0.73 percent to 37,928, in Madrid the IBEX-35 edged 0.13 percent lower to 11,854.3 and in Brussels the BEL-20 closed down 0.76 percent at 3,912.28.
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