European blue chips were mixed in midsession trade yesterday, with a fall in Spain's Telefonica on disappointing buyback news offset by firmer oil shares as the price of crude oil hovered around 10-year highs.
Meanwhile merger activity, both real and speculated, boosted shares of some healthcare stocks.
European markets have risen by about 20 per cent since hitting six-year lows in mid-March on hopes the world's largest economy, the US, is recovering and will boost corporate earnings around the world.
Although the ride upwards has not always been smooth due to worries the weak dollar may crimp exporters' profit growth, most analysts believe the road to recovery remains open.
"A gathering economic recovery is still in place (and) the market is likely to be positively surprised on earnings ... it is better to focus on recovery than the dollar risks," said James Barty, a strategist at Deutsche Bank.
The European third-quarter earnings reporting season gets into full swing next week with technology bellwethers such as Nokia and SAP, and old economy stalwarts such as French food giant Danone, all due to hand in their scorecards.
By 1114 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index was down 0.31 per cent at 903 points, while the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index lost 0.02 per cent to 2,530 points.
Around Europe, London inched 0.1 per cent higher and Frankfurt added 0.16 per cent but Paris slipped 0.13 per cent and Zurich lost 0.12 per cent.
Amersham stood out yet again after the British medical firm said it had agreed an all-share 5.7 billion pounds takeover by US conglomerate General Electric, a deal which values it at 800 pence per share.
Amersham shares rose 14.7 per cent to 757 pence on the news, pushing to about 27 per cent overall gains for the past three sessions.
Germany's Schering rose for the third day in a row on talk it could be the next healthcare sector takeover target after Amersham.
Spanish telecoms multinational Telefonica shares were down 1.74 per cent after being suspended briefly on disappointment over the company's buyback programme.
Shares in Carrefour gained 0.7 per cent after Europe's largest retailer reported a 4.6 per cent rise in third-quarter sales to 19.789 billion euros late on Thursday, helped by strong numbers in Spain and Italy and a lesser impact of currency rates.
Oil stocks also lent strength as crude prices rose further. BP was 0.57 per cent firmer, Royal Dutch stepped up one per cent and Shell was 1.23 per cent stronger.