European shares snapped a 4-day winning steak on Friday as oil's relentless surge to new peaks stoked fears about corporate profits. In the media sector, Publicis rose 1.7 percent to 22.1 euros after its surprise inclusion in France's blue-chip CAC 40 index but rival WPP sagged 2.3 percent to 483 pence amid uncertainty over a possible takeover of rival Grey Global and after its cautious comments on the U.S. economy. By 1035 GMT, the blue chip FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was down 0.4 percent at 949.79 points, just 1.5 percent up from a new 2004 low hit on Monday. The narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 0.59 percent at 2,615.11 points. "In our view, the bounce in European and U.S. equities looks likely to peak, having risen by approximately 2.5 percent over the last five days," said Anais Faraj, strategist at Nomura. "With a lot of short covering out of the way, it may be time for the bears to test the envelope again," Faraj said. U.S. stock futures pointed to opening losses for the three main indexes, weighed by oil's climb to record highs. Volumes in Europe however remained lackluster at 572 million euros, barely half of the normal trading by midday. "This week's gains were made on thin volumes, which was not a positive indicator for the sustainability of the rally," said Akber Khan, a director of European equities at Deutsche Bank. Around Europe, the FTSE 100 fell 0.16 percent, Germany's DAX was off 0.6 percent, the CAC 40 lost 0.5 percent and the Swiss index was little changed.
