European shares managed to chalk up a weekly gain but losses from German utility E.On and oil giant BP added a bit of pressure on Friday as stocks were down for the day. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index edged down 0.6 percent to 306.68 but was still more than 3 percent higher on the week following some gains from banks and mining companies. Edmund Shing, strategist at BNP Paribas in Paris, pointed out that this week's gains follow several efforts meant to stabilize the U.S economy and underpin the American housing market. However, the Stoxx 600 index is still on track to post a monthly loss when March ends on Monday. «There's no indication that we're out of a sideways move or even a bear trend yet,» said Shing. Around Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index closed down 0.4 percent to 5,692.90, the German DAX 30 index slipped 0.3 percent to 6,559.90 and the French CAC-40 index dipped 0.5 percent to 4,695.92. The weakness came despite a moderate advance for U.S. stocks on Friday, supported by Citigroup's upgrade of Lehman Brothers and as Accenture's earnings topped forecasts. The utility sector in Europe came under pressure, with shares of E.On down 2.5 percent and Endesa shares down 2 percent. Both companies gained strongly on Thursday ahead of a deal formalizing the sale of almost ¤12 billion (US$18.96 billion) of Endesa assets to E.On. And BP shares fell 1.8 percent as oil prices turned lower, down 2.5 percent to US$104.96 a barrel. Back in Europe, most mining shares had another good day, with Anglo American gaining 1 percent and Vedanta Resources up 3.2 percent. «Commodity prices have remained remarkably resilient in the face of equity-market turmoil and weather-related demand drop-off in China, highlighting supply-side tightness in particular,» noted analysts at Deutsche Bank. Turning to the European financial sector, shares of German insurance giant Allianz rose 2.9 percent.
