European Stocks Flat, Roche Hammered As Key Drugs Fail Clinical Trials

(RTTNews) - European stocks were mixed Friday, ending an otherwise strong week on a lackluster note amid renewed concerns that the European Central Bank will dither on further stimulus.

Stocks had run up sharply in the previous three sessions, pulling the Euro Stoxx 50 into the green year-to-date.

Trading has been volatile in recent weeks, with markets hanging on every word from central banks around the world.

Friday was no different, with stocks falling sharply mid-day only to fight back toward the unchanged lines late in the session.

UK shares outperformed on the strength of gains in the energy sector.

In the end, the Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was down 0.4 percent, trimming a weekly gain of 2.4 percent.

The FTSE 100 index of the U.K. gained 1.23 percent, while the German DAX eased 0.25 percent and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.18 percent.

Roche suffered a double-whammy Friday, with disappointing results from separate trials on its Alzheimer's and breast cancer drugs driving shares down 6.3 percent.

In Paris, Orange gained 1.4 percent, after Deutsche Bank raised the stock to "Buy" from "Hold."

IT services company Atos SE agreed to acquire the information technology outsourcing business of US-based printer and copier maker Xerox for $1.05 billion in cash. Atos surged 6.1 percent.

Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM cut its 2014 EBITDA target by an additional 200 million euros, citing weakness in unit revenues in several long-haul markets and impact of pilots' strike. The stock dropped 8 percent.

Engineering giant Alstom SA said it is in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice with respect to its current investigations. The stock fell around 4 percent.

On the economic front, the market research group GfK said German consumer confidence is set to improve to an eight-year high at the start of the year, on strong gains in economic expectations and willingness-to-buy, as the current economic weakness is expected to be temporary.

The forward-looking consumer confidence index climbed to 9 for January, the highest since December 2006, from 8.7 in December. The index was forecast to rise marginally to 8.8 points.

Germany's producer prices declined less-than-expected in November, figures from Destatis revealed. The producer price index fell 0.9 percent year-on-year in November, slightly slower than the 1.0 percent decline in each of the previous two months.