European stocks were trading mixed Friday on renewed trade worries after China said it would retaliate with tariffs of its own if the U.S. goes ahead with its plans to impose punishing tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of Chinese goods.
The euro hovered near two-week lows and was on track for its worst weekly loss in 19 months, a day after the European Central Bank said it would hold interest rates low at least until summer 2019.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.2 percent at 392.26 in late opening deals after rallying 1.2 percent the previous day as the European Central Bank indicated it would not raise interest rates through the summer of 2019.
The German DAX was little changed and France's CAC 40 index was rising 0.4 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down as much as 0.7 percent.
Novartis gained 0.7 percent. Its unit Sandoz has announced the presentation of two long-term, Phase III studies: one each for biosimilar Zessly or infliximab and biosimilar Erelzi or etanercept.
Clothing group H&M Group slumped 4 percent after posting muted growth in Q2 sales.
German lender Commerzbank fell 2.5 percent and Deutsche Bank dropped nearly 1 percent as government bond yields extended declines on the back of dovish signals from the ECB.
Regional automakers were trading mixed after industry data showed Europe passenger car sales grew only 0.8 percent year-on-year in May, following a 9.6 percent rise in April.
Dassault Systèmes rose 1.4 percent in Paris after the company said it is initiating a 2018-2023 plan to double its non-IFRS earnings per share.
Miner and commodities trader Glencore dropped 1.5 percent in London after settling a legal dispute in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Tesco shares rallied 2 percent. The retailer delivered positive like-for-like sales growth for a tenth consecutive period in the first quarter.
Rolls Royce Holdings soared 10 percent. The jet-engine manufacturer said that it is well-placed to exceed free cash flow of 1 billion pounds by 2020.
In economic news, Eurozone consumer prices increased as estimated in May, final data from Eurostat revealed.
Inflation rose to 1.9 percent in May from revised 1.3 percent in April. A similar high rate was last seen in April 2017. The latest rate matched the initial estimate released on May 31.
Germany's central bank downgraded its growth outlook for this year as exports and business investment are expected to be less strong. The economy is forecast to grow 2 percent this year instead of 2.5 percent projected in December.
Meanwhile, the projection for 2019 was raised to 1.9 percent from 1.7 percent.
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