The roller-coaster ride on European sharemarkets over the past week ended on Friday with a more subdued day of trading, when 11 out of the 18 indexes ended lower.

European sharemarkets went into freefall last Wednesday and some markets, including France's CAC and Germany's DAX, shed over eight percent in four days before gaining back over five percent over Wednesday and Thursday.

At the close of trading on Friday, the FTSEUROFIRST 300 index had dipped by 2.760 points, or 0.276 percent, to close at 997.70, while the UK's FTSE 100 lost 6.74 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 5188.43.

France's CAC index fell by 10.25 points, or 0.29 percent, to close at 3515.06, while Germany's DAX index gained 9.04 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 5946.18.

On the commodity markets, the value of Brent crude lost 52 US cents, or 0.7 percent, to close at US$74.14 after surging by 7.1 percent over Wednesday and Thursday, while the price of gold fell by US$3.50, or 0.3 percent, to be worth US$ 1207.50 an ounce.

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