European shares fell slightly after hitting a one-week high on Friday, with commodity stocks leading the market lower after prices of crude oil and major industrial metals dropped on supply-demand concerns, Reuters reported. The European oil and gas index fell 1 percent as oil prices fell after producers' cartel OPEC indicated there would be no output cuts despite a huge global oversupply, while the STOXX Europe 600 basic resources index was down 1.8 percent after copper fell on lingering worries about the metals' demand in top consumer China. Shares in BP, Statoil, Anglo American and BHP Billiton fell 1.2 to 2.0 percent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,567.74 points by 1045 GMT after rising to a one-week high of 1,575.11 points earlier in the session on the back of some positive earnings updates. UCB surged 6.8 percent, the top gainer in the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, after the Belgian pharmaceutical company raised its 2015 forecasts as sales of its three major upcoming drugs propelled first-half earnings by more than expected. BNP Paribas gained 2.7 percent after its revenue rose nearly 16 percent in the second quarter, while Natixis was up 2.8 percent after reporting a 5 percent rise in net income. Airbus rose 3.7 percent after posting a 6 percent rise in first-half core operating profit.
