European stocks ended slightly lower on Friday as worries over the outcome of the G20 meeting prompted investors to book some profits, after key indexes hit six-month highs in the previous session. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.4 percent lower at 1,089.45 points, but eked out a gain of 0.4 percent on the week, its third consecutive weekly gain.
The Euro STOXX 50, the eurozone's blue chip index, ended 0.3 percent lower at 2,873.74 points. "Earnings have been pretty good and a lot of stocks rose this week on the back of this, so people are using the excuse of currency tensions with the G20 meeting to cash in profits," said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading at Global Equities in Paris.
Consumer-related stocks, which surged earlier in the week, featured among the biggest losers on Friday. LVMH lost 0.8 percent and L'Oreal surrendered 1.9 percent. On the first day of a two-day meeting meant to smooth the path for a G20 summit in Seoul on November 11-12, the United States struggled to win backing for its proposal of setting targets for external imbalances as a way of pressing surplus countries such as China to let their exchange rates rise.
Ericsson soared 4.2 percent after the telecom equipment maker posted higher-than-expected core profit, boosted by higher margins. Rival Nokia lost 2.5 percent a day after forecast-beating results lifted the stock more than 6 percent. Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index lost 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX index shed 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 dropped 0.3 percent.
The three benchmark indexes have climbed around 13 percent since late August, lifted in part by mounting expectations of further quantitative easing from the US Federal Reserve, which have also dragged down the dollar and boosted commodity prices. "Further quantitative easing has been priced in by the market so, going into the Fed meeting in early November, the risk is on the downside if (Ben) Bernanke doesn't deliver what he is expected to," said Dominique Netter, head of strategic asset allocation at La Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild in Paris.
"Stocks will manage to break above their April highs at some point this year, but I think they won't rise much higher." The recent rally has lifted European stock valuations to levels not seen in nearly three months. Shares in the FTSEurofirst 300 trade at an average 13.4 times reported earnings, a level not seen since early August.