Europe : Markets steady but on track for worst week in 5 months

LONDON : European shares steadied in early trading on Friday as a rise in mining stocks on the back of firmer metals prices underpinned the market, although some major stock indexes remained set for their worst week in about five months.

The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 index was up 0.05 percent by 0712 GMT. However, it has fallen more than 3 percent so far this week and remained on track for its biggest weekly percentage drop since the middle of February.

However, miners were in demand, with the STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources index rising 1.1 percent, the top sectoral gainer, after prices of major industrial metals advanced. Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore rose 1.1 to 2.2 percent.

Among other sharp movers, Air France-KLM fell 4.2 percent after saying its June traffic fell 2.1 percent, while TDC rose 6 percent after financial daily Borsen reported a foreign buyout house was eyeing a possible takeover of Denmark’s top telecom operator.