LONDON, Jan 18: European stock markets closed lower on Friday in very volatile trade as investors hoped for the best from a White House stimulus package aimed at keeping the US economy out of recession.

Dealers said heavy losses of 2.46 per cent on Wall Street on Thursday had pummelled Asian stocks early Friday but some of those markets then recovered to finish in positive territory.

That was enough to help Europe for a time against a backdrop of growing fears that the world’s largest economy could be on the brink of stalling, threatening a major global slowdown.

In London, the FTSE 100 index was off just 0.01 per cent at 5,901.70 points in volatile trade that had seen the market at around 6,030 points at one stage.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1.25 per cent to 5,092.40 points and in Frankfurt the Dax dropped 1.34 per cent to 7,314.23 points. The Euro Stoxx 50 index shed 1.74 pe rcent at 3,995.7 points.—AFP