Major stock markets outside the United States ended on Friday.
Among major movers, Tesco rose as investors judged the recent retail sell-off overdone, while Pearson gained after saying that it and GE would not pursue a joint offer for Dow Jones.
"We feel there's still upside, the market's not overly valued even against bonds, and earnings don't seem to be under any great pressure," said Dave Bradbury, head of equities at Canada Life in London. "I don't think it's a wildly exciting story, but I still think it ought to push up."
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed down 0.3 percent at 1,598.8, its lowest finish since June 13, as a steeper-than-expected drop in the German Ifo business sentiment index for June also soured the mood.
Europe's benchmark index was down 1.7 percent for the week but is still up 8 percent so far this year, thanks to mergers and acquisitions and robust earnings.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.07 percent, or 4.4 points, to 6,382.6, after slipping 0.15 percent in the previous session. Despite posting two straight session of losses, the index rose 88.8 points on the week.
The All Gold index closed at 2,596.85 points, down 19.08 or 0.73 percent, dropping 17.39 points in the week. The Industrial index closed at 19,706.46 points, down 125.1 or 0.63 percent, worse off by 85.89 points than last week.