LONDON: Europe's stock markets dropped on Friday as a fall in German business confidence offset positive British growth data, while traders reacted to a huge tie-up of the continent's pay-TV sector.
In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 1.82 percent to 4,330.55 points after poor company results following three consecutive days of gain.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 index lost 1.53 percent to 9,644.01 compared with Thursday's close.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dipped 0.44 percent to stand at 6,791.55 points at the closing bell, with investors shrugging off the British output data that were in line with analysts' expectations.
The dip in the markets coincided with a rise in bond prices, with investors spooked over relatively low German confidence data.
Wall Street opened on a weak note off the back of poor company results, in turn dragging European stocks down.
The crises in Ukraine and the Middle East are eroding business confidence in Germany, a key indicator showed on Friday, amid signs that global turmoil could derail European recovery.
The Ifo economic institute's closely watched business climate index fell sharply to 108.0 points in July from 109.7 points in June -- the third drop in a row, to the lowest level since October 2013.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a smaller dip, to 109.4 points.
By mid-morning in New York, the Dow Jones had lost 0.81 percent to 16,946.07 points and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.39 percent to 4,440.32 points, reversing Thursday's gains partly aided by strong quarterly results from social network Facebook.
The S&P 500 was also down 0.53 percent to 1,977.50 points. In foreign exchange, the European single currency fell to $1.3433 from $1.3464 at the end of a week during which the euro has touched eight-month lows against the US unit as investors sought safety.
The euro eased to 79.14 pence from 79.25 on Thursday. The pound was down to $1.6973 from $1.6985 overnight.
The price of gold edged lower to $1,292.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,292.75 on Thursday.
'Significant hope':
Britain's economy grew in the second quarter, overtaking the levels it achieved before the global financial crisis, official data showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product expanded by 0.8 percent between April and June from the first quarter, when it grew by the same amount, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
The economy is now 0.2 percent bigger than before its pre-crisis peak in early 2008, the ONS added.
The International Monetary Fund meanwhile predicts that Britain will be the fastest-growing major world economy this year.
Analysts said the UK's recovery offered "significant hope" to nations in the eurozone but also voiced doubts the single-currency bloc would be able to follow Britain's lead.
"We doubt that the eurozone will stage a recovery to match the UK's until private and public debts have been reduced and the ECB has brought in large quantities of assets," said Jennifer McKeown, senior economist at Capital Economics.
On the corporate side Friday, shares in BSkyB tumbled 5.46 percent to 874.50 pence after the British satellite television group said it had agreed multi-billion-dollar deals with Rupert Murdoch's media empire 21st Century Fox to create a pan-European pay-TV giant.
Royal Bank of Scotland surged 11.31 percent to 366 pence, easily topping London's FTSE 100 index before ending the day up 10.77 percent at 364.20, after the state-rescued lender announced a surge in profits.
In Paris, shares in luxury goods maker LVMH slumped 6.80 percent to 131.65 euros a day after the owner of Louis Vuitton and Givenchy announced a fall to its earnings.
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