European stocks closed lower on Friday, dragged by automakers after a disappointing update from Volkswagen.
London's FTSE 100 eased 0.6 percent to close at 6,023, the Paris-based CAC-40 declined 0.5 percent to close at 5,188 and Frankfurt's DAX Xetra 30 fell 1 percent to close at 6,009.
European markets are closed tomorrow for the May Day holiday.
The pan-European Dow Jones STOXX 600 index dipped 0.4 percent to close at 336.48.
Oil companies were lower as crude touched a two-week low.
German automaker Volkswagen dropped 5.4 percent after it said its first-quarter profit more than quadrupled, but the results fell short of analysts' forecasts.
Other auto stocks, including DaimlerChrysler and Renault, were also lower. However, Peugeot rose 1.5 percent in Paris after it said first-quarter revenue rose 2.4 percent to 13.96 billion euros (US$17.5 billion), with the company offsetting a decline in market share in Western Europe with growth in Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey and Latin America.
Selected healthcare stocks also gained after the EU's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use adopted positive opinions on initial marketing authorization applications for various drugs including Sanofi-Aventis' weight loss drug Acomplia, Elan's Tysabri for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and GlaxoSmithKline's Avaglim diabetes treatment.
Sanofi-Aventis shares gained 1.6 percent and GlaxoSmithKline closed 1.6 percent higher.
British phonebook group Yell dipped 2.9 percent after it agreed to buy Telefonica's 59.9 percent stake in Spanish directories company Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion for 3.1 billion euros.
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