(MENAFN- AFP) European stocks marked a pause on Friday despite growing optimism over Greece which was given a further boost as the EU approved a 7 billion euro bridge loan for Athens.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies slid 0.31 percent to end the day at 6,775.08 points, while in Frankfurt the DAX 30 shed 0.37 percent to 11,673.42 points.
Milan slipped 0.07 percent and Madrid gave up 0.26 percent.
The CAC 40 in Paris bucked the trend end the day up 0.06 percent to 5,124.39 points.
In foreign exchange deals, the euro slipped to $1.0855 from $1.0875 late on Thursday in New York.
"European shares cooled off on Friday but are set to finish the week in winning fashion as relief over the Greece debt deal, a recovery in Chinese equities and impressive US earnings encouraged a return to risk-taking," said CMC Markets UK analyst Jasper Lawler.
The CAC 40 climbed 4.4 percent over the week during which Greece and the eurozone agreed in principle on a new 86-billion-euro bailout package to keep the country from crashing out of the euro.
The DAX 30 gained 3.2 percent, while the FTSE added 1.5 percent.
On Friday "the market caught its breath a bit and lacked a catalyst to go one way or the other," said Daniel Larrouturou, managing director at Diamand Bleu Gestion.
Markets failed to gain traction from the EU agreeing on a short-term loan of 7.16 billion euros to help Greece avoid a catastrophic default on a repayment to the European Central Bank on Monday and make other payments for the next month while negotiations proceed on a third bailout since 2010.
Those negotiations received a fillip when German lawmakers gave Friday their green light after an impassioned plea from Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But analysts said there were still plenty of hurdles ahead on Greece.
"The plan for a third Greek bailout has cleared a number of hurdles over the last week, including provisional approval by the Greek and German parliaments. But there are plenty of obstacles yet to be negotiated, including the fiscal targets, the proposed privatisation fund and, above all, debt relief," said Jonathan Loynes at Capital Economics.
- Google pushes Nasdaq record -
US stocks traded mixed but the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index pushed further into record territory, powered by Google shares which surged 14.7 percent.
In midday trade in New York, the Nasdaq was at 5,195.41 points, up 0.62 percent from Thursday's record close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.41 percent to 18,046.76, while the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.06 percent to 2,122.94.
Google's second-quarter earnings climbed two percent to $3.4 billion on an 11 percent rise in revenue to $17.7 billion, helped by strong growth in advertising on mobile platforms.
The surge lifted Google's market capitalisation to around $450 billion, second only to Apple.
Across in Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks rallied as fears eased over a renewed mainland rout.
Shanghai jumped 3.51 percent in value. The index has now risen for two straight weeks, clawing back some of the huge losses suffered in just under a month after hitting a June 12 peak. Hong Kong stocks won one percent.
Tokyo rose 0.25 percent, or 50.80 points, to 20,650.92, marking a five-day winning streak.
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