LONDON, Feb 23: European stock markets were mainly weak on Friday, in the wake of a poor German business confidence survey and weak showing by Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

The market meanwhile digested news of plans by the Tokyo and London stock exchanges for a business alliance aimed at expanding their global reach, reflecting intensifying competition between the world's top bourses.

For now the alliance is purely operational, but the two exchanges said they were not ruling out a capital tie-up further down the road.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares fell 0.12 per cent to 6,373.00 points in late morning deals.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 index edged up 0.04 per cent to 6,976.45 points in early afternoon trade and in Paris the CAC 40 dipped 0.12 per cent to 5,701.29 at the half-way stage.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares eased 0.08 per cent to 4,238.03 points.

The euro stood at 1.3115 dollars. Share prices were hit in part by news that business confidence in Germany had slipped in February, according to data.

The widely watched business climate index, calculated each month by the Munich-based economic research institute Ifo, fell to 107.0 points in February from 107.9 points in January.

Across the Atlantic, US stock markets mostly fell on Thursday as crude oil prices climbed above 60 dollars per barrel, traders said. Higher oil prices increase companies' energy costs and fuel inflation.

In London, the fifth-biggest British bank, Lloyds TSB, headed the FTSE 100 fallers, shedding 3.67 per cent to 590.5 pence, after it announced a 20-per cent rise in losses from un-repaid loans in 2006 alongside a jump in profits.

WPP, the British advertising and marketing group, climbed 0.78 per cent to 773.00 pence after announcing that net profit rose by 19.8 per cent to 435.8 million pounds in 2006.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.41 per cent at 12,686.02 points.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index eased 0.09 perc ent to 1,456.38 points while the tech-rich Nasdaq composite rose 0.26 per cent to 2,524.94.—AFP