Summary The IMF meanwhile predicts that Britain will be the fastest-growing major world economy this year.
LONDON (AFP) - Europe s stock markets dropped on Friday as a fall in German business confidence offset positive British growth data, while traders reacted to a huge tie-up of the continent s pay-TV sector.
London s benchmark FTSE 100 index dipped 0.12 percent to stand at 6,813.09 points around midday in the capital, with investors shrugged off the in-line British output data.
In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 0.69 percent to 4,380.13 points and Frankfurt s DAX 30 index lost 0.47 percent to 9,747.71 compared with Thursday s close.
Markets on Wall Street opened on a weak note off the back of poor company results.
The crises in Ukraine and the Middle East are eroding business confidence in Germany, a key indicator showed on Friday, amid signs that global turmoil could derail European recovery.
The Ifo economic institute s closely watched business climate index fell sharply to 108.0 points in July from 109.7 points in June -- the third drop in a row, to the lowest level since October 2013.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a smaller dip, to 109.4 points.
Minutes into trading in New York, the Dow Jones had dipped 0.05 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.51 percent, reversing Thursday s gains partly aided by strong quarterly accounts from social network Facebook.
In foreign exchange, the European single currency fell to $1.3446 from $1.3464 at the end of a week during which the euro has struck eight-month low points against the US unit as investors sought safety.
The euro eased to 79.10 British pence from 79.25 on Thursday. The pound was unchanged from $1.6985 overnight.
The price of gold edged lower to $1,292.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,292.75 on Thursday.
Britain s economy grew in the second quarter, overtaking the size it achieved before the global financial crisis, official data showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product expanded by 0.8 percent between April and June from the first quarter, when it grew by the same amount, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
The economy is now 0.2 percent bigger than before its pre-crisis peak in early 2008, the ONS added.
The International Monetary Fund meanwhile predicts that Britain will be the fastest-growing major world economy this year.
On the corporate side Friday, shares in BSkyB tumbled 4.92 percent to 879.50 pence after the British satellite television group said it had agreed multi-billion-dollar deals with Rupert Murdoch s media empire 21st Century Fox to create a pan-European pay-TV giant.
Royal Bank of Scotland surged 11.31 percent to 366 pence, easily topping London s FTSE 100 index, after the state-rescued lender announced a surge in profits.
In Paris, shares in luxury goods maker LVMH slumped 6.16 percent to 132.55 euros a day after the owner of Louis Vuitton and Givenchy announced a fall to its earnings.
