European markets are exhibiting a mixed trend on Friday, with investors digesting some crucial earnings reports and treading cautiously amid uncertain near term outlook for stocks.
The weak close in Asia and the overnight decline on Wall Street following a downward revision in revenue target by the world's largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co appear to be weighing on most of the markets in Europe.
Crude oil prices hover around late 2014 levels, having surged higher on supply concerns, and the dollar is holding gains against most major currencies.
In the German market, the benchmark DAX is down 32.90 points or 0.26 percent at 12,534.52.
Lufthansa, RWE, Deutsche Bank, Continental AG and Infineon are down 1 to 2.5 percent.
Deutsche Telekom, Muench, Rueckvers, BASF, Allianz, Prosiebensat and Siemens are up 0.4 to 1 percent.
The French market is modestly higher on selective buying. The CAC 40 index is up 18.40 points or 0.34 percent at 5410.04.
Sodexo, Orange, Arcelor Mittal, Schneider Electric and Saint Gobain are up 1 to 1.5 percent. Carrefour, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Airbus Group and Lafarge Holcim are also trading higher.
Meanwhile, ST Microelectronics is down by about 1.8 percent. Publici Groupe, Michelin, Technip FMC, Valeo and Renault are down 0.5 to 1.3 percent.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index is gaining 29.51 points or 0.4 percent at 7,358.43.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals is up more than 4 percent. CRH is gaining 3.7 percent. Capita, Smiths Group, Barratt Development, Intu Properties and Imperial Brands are up 2 to 2.2 percent.
BAE Systems, Standard Chartered, Burberry Group, GlaxoSmithKline, Vodafone Group, HSBC and British American Tobacco are gaining 1 to 1.7 percent.
Reckitt Benckiser is down 4.8 percent after the company's first-quarter like-for-like sales growth, at 2 percent, fell short of expectations.
Shire is down by about 1.8 percent following an announcement from Allergan PLC that there are no plans to make a bid for the Dublin-based drug maker.
Rolls-Royce Holdings, Merlin Entertainment, Next, EasyJet and Lloyds Bank are down 0.4 to 1.6 percent.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Finland and Poland are flat. Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Spain are up marginally and Sweden is notably higher.
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland and Turkey are modestly lower, while Greece and Hungary are down with notable losses.
In economic news from the eurozone, data released by Destatis showed Germany's producer price inflation to have risen to 1.9 percent in March from February's 14-month low of 1.8 percent. The rate was forecast to increase to 2.0 percent.
On a monthly basis, producer prices edged up 0.1 percent from February, when it dropped by 0.1 percent. Prices were expected to rise by 0.2 percent.
In Turkey, consumer confidence improved in April and Hungary's employee wage growth eased at a faster-than-expected pace in February, with gross earnings advancing 11.9 percent in the month, as compared to 13.8 percent a month earlier.
Spain's foreign trade deficit decreased in February from a year ago, as exports grew faster than imports, preliminary figures from the Economy Ministry showed. The trade deficit narrowed to EUR 2.2 billion in February from EUR 2.6 billion in the corresponding month last year.
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