London---Eurozone stock markets slid on Friday as investors' attention shifted to an EU summit over relations with the ex-Soviet states and the Greek crisis as well as US inflation data.
In the euro area, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.16 percent to stand at 11,846.18 points in afternoon deals and the CAC 40 in Paris dipped 0.03 percent to 5,144.97 points compared with Thursday's close.
But in London the benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.65 percent to 7,059.00 points, boosted by gains to share prices of heavyweight miners that rallied on Chinese stimulus hopes.
In foreign exchange trading on Friday, the euro dropped to $1.1035 from $1.1112 late in New York on Thursday, after US core inflation came in higher than expected and thus raised chances of a rise to interest rates.
Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex trading group. said the EU summit was "drawing most of the attention in Europe" while investors were also looking to the latest US inflation data to give clues on the outlook for US interest rates.
The US Labor Department reported that US consumer prices edged 0.1 percent higher in April as energy prices tumbled and food prices were flat, but excluding those elements core inflation came in at a higher than expected 0.3 percent.
While the US Federal Reserve is no longer seen as likely to raise its key interest rates in June, markets have been left uncertain over the exact timing of a hike.
A pick up in inflation would support raising rates, which would support the dollar.
"USD edges higher on higher than expected core CPI ," said City Index analyst Ashraf Laidi.
Meanwhile Wall Street stocks opened mostly lower on Friday as traders awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on the US economic outlook.
Five minutes into trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slid 0.15 percent to 18,258.84 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 retreated from Thursday's record, falling 0.18 percent to 2,127.08, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.01 percent at 4,529.82.
Investors are hoping that Yellen's speech will deliver insights into when the central bank will raise near-zero interest rates, now generally expected in September at the earliest.
AFP
