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Europe ends under slight pressure following PMIs, mixed earnings

After a choppy trading session, European equities finished predominantly mixed on Friday, after investors pored over another batch of earnings and digested new PMI figures for the U.K. and the euro zone.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.07 percent provisionally. On the week, however, the index ended on a positive note, up 0.7 percent. Most sectors also ended in negative territory, however, with the exception of telecoms, which popped 1.45 percent.

Looking at major bourses, London's FTSE remained resilient during trade, finishing up 0.46 percent. Meanwhile, France's CAC and Germany's DAX both wavered, finishing up around 0.1 percent and down 0.1 percent respectively.

European PMIs shake up sentiment

The STOXX 600 saw a choppy start to its session, after a private sector survey showed that business activity in the euro zone did not fall as much as expected in July. A preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing and services sectors in the euro zone came in at 52.9 in July, above expectations for a reading of 52.5 according to analysts polled by Reuters.

Meanwhile, PMI figures for the U.K., compiled by Markit, showed that the services sector slipped to 47.4 from June's 52.3, its lowest since March 2009. The country's flash manufacturing PMI also dropped, down to 49.1, from 52.1 in June. Overall, the figures caused the U.K. sterling to sink against the dollar, trading down over 1 percent at $1.3079 at Europe's close.

Following the U.K. data, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, said if the U.K. continues to see these kinds of figures, "the economy could be headed for recession before the year is out." Consequently, analysts elsewhere are suggesting that this could prompt the Bank of England to do more to stimulate growth in the country at its upcoming meeting in August.

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