The UK market erased early gains and is modestly lower in afternoon trading Friday, ahead of the monthly U.S. jobs report due later in the day.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.18 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 0.57 percent.
The FTSE 100 index began trading at 5,848 and remained in positive territory in early session, despite volatile trading. The index is currently losing 0.15 percent.
Miners Rio Tinto, Eurasian Natural Resources, BHP Billiton and Vedanta Resources are falling between 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland is falling 1.2 percent. Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group are declining 0.6 percent each.
Chipmaker Autonomy is gaining 3 percent. The company said it closed the acquisition of some assets of Iron Mountain's digital division earlier than anticipated, due to unexpectedly rapid regulatory approvals.
British Land Co. is adding 1.4 percent. Hammerson is gaining 1.1 percent and Land Securities Group is rising 0.8 percent.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is adding 0.06 percent, while the French CAC 40 is falling 0.10 percent. Switzerland's SMI is declining 1.24 percent.
In economic news, UK service sector expanded for a fifth straight month in May, but at a slower pace than in the previous month, data from Markit Economics revealed.
Meanwhile, Germany's private sector growth eased in May, signaling the weakest expansion in activity since October 2010, data released by Markit Economics and BME showed. Separately, Markit Economics said eurozone private sector growth eased to a five-month low in May.
Across Asia/Pacific, most major markets settled lower. Australia's All Ordinaries trimmed 0.35 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1.31 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.66 percent.
However, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.85 percent. The country's private sector economy expanded at a faster pace in May on the back of strong growth in services output, while inflation cooled to a multi-month low amid Beijing's aggressive policy tightening.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Nasdaq edged up 0.2 percent, while the Dow fell 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is sliding $1.01 to $99.39 per barrel, while gold is losing $6.0 to $1526.7 a troy ounce.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.