LONDON, March 2: European stock markets fell further in volatile trade on Friday, following more weakness on Wall Street and a mixed showing by Asian shares.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares slid 0.25 per cent to 4,021.27 points.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares nudged up 0.04 per cent at 6,118.20 points, but Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.40 per cent to 6,614.00 points and in Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.25 per cent to 5,445.79.

The euro stood at 1.3158 dollars.

Europe's main indices had slumped by more than 5.0 per cent between Tuesday and Thursday, mirroring sharp falls by other global indices on concerns about slowing economic growth in the United States and a potential bubble in the Chinese stock market.

Markets are remaining pretty volatile, Charles Stanley analyst Jeremy Batstone said in London on Friday.

You're not going to find too many traders wanting to hold positions over the weekend, he added, referring to the fact that many would likely bring closure to deals by either buying or selling stock.

London's FTSE had opened higher before falling about half a per cent.

On Thursday, Wall Street had ended slightly lower after an upbeat report on the US factory sector helped ease investor jitters.

In Paris, the share price of French magazine publisher Lagardere tumbled 5.49 per cent to 58.58 euros, as investors corrected the spike in the stock on Thursday.

A dealer's inputting error had led to Lagardere closing up 6.70 per cent.

A Paris dealer said that such an error was understandable given the heavy trading at Thursday's close.

Shares in Airbus parent company EADS fell by 3.90 per cent to 23.66 euros early on Friday, following an announcement that work on a freight version of the A380 superjumbo plane was being suspended.

Analysts at brokers Credit Mutuel CIC said in a note to clients:

Airbus no doubt prefers to focus all of its means on the passenger version of the A380 and on the cargo version of the A330 which was approved at the beginning of the year.

In London, the FTSE's gains were limited by falls to heavyweight mining shares. The Anglo-Swiss mining company Xstrata shed 1.50 per cent to 2,305 pence in the wake of weaker copper prices, dealers said.

On the upside, German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer gained 0.43 per cent to 42.40 euros after the group said it planned to slash 6,100 jobs worldwide as part of the integration of newly-acquired drug maker Schering.

The integration of Schering with the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer will result in annual savings of 700 million euros (920 million dollars) each year from 2009, Bayer said in a statement.—AFP