(MENAFN- AFP) European stock markets diverged on Friday as investors' attention shifted to an EU summit over relations with the ex-Soviet states and the Greek crisis as well as upcoming US data.
In the euro area, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.37 percent to stand at 11,820.96 points in early afternoon deals and the CAC 40 in Paris dipped 0.03 percent to 5,145.30 points compared with Thursday's close.
But in London the benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.62 percent to 7,056.84 points, boosted by gains to share prices of heavyweight miners that rallied on Chinese stimulus hopes.
In foreign exchange trading on Friday, the euro climbed to $1.1169 from $1.1112 late in New York on Thursday.
"With the... EU summit drawing most of the attention in Europe, the US will announce a figure of genuine importance when it reveals its latest inflation data", giving clues on the outlook for US interest rates, said Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex trading group.
The EU summit in Riga is focused on developing the European Union's relationship with the former Soviet states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
But Prime Minister David Cameron will also use it to launch his bid to recast Britain's relationship with the EU, warning of "ups and downs" before a straight in-or-out referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017.
Also at the summit German Chancellor Angela Merkel has dampened hopes for an end to marathon talks with Greece on a new loan deal as cash-strapped Athens said an agreement was possible by the end of the month.
The German economy, Europe's biggest, meanwhile appears to have reached cruising altitude as business confidence maintained its current high level in May, the Ifo economic institute said Friday.
Ifo's closely watched business climate index eased slightly to 108.5 points this month from 108.6 points in April, the think tank said in a statement.
It was the first time since September that the index has fallen, but analysts had been expecting a slightly bigger drop.
In Asia, Chinese shares were the stand-out performers on hopes that Beijing will announce fresh monetary easing measures after more disappointing economic indicators.
Tokyo reversed a morning sell-off to end 0.30 percent higher to 20,264.41 -- its best finish since April 2000, while Shanghai surged 2.83 percent, Hong Kong added 1.70 percent, and Seoul closed up 1.10 percent.
Markets have meanwhile been left uncertain over the exact timing of a hike in US interest rates.
Federal Reserve policymakers do not expect to increase its key interest rate in June, minutes from the April 28-29 policy meeting showed Wednesday.
A "few" officials thought that data collected by the June 16-17 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee would likely show that the outlook had improved sufficiently to meet the central bank's thresholds for raising the near-zero federal funds rate.
But generally, the April minutes reflected a "wait-and-see" attitude after a stall in US economic growth in the first quarter.
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