VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - European stocks fell slightly on Friday, as the Fed's decision on interest rates faded, oil prices slipped ahead of next week's Algiers OPEC meeting and regional data on French GDP and Eurozone private sector activity disappointed investors.
Miners were among the biggest losers after sharp gains in the previous session, aided by a weaker dollar following the monetary policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.6 percent in midday trading after climbing 1.6 percent in the previous session.
The German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were down about 0.1 percent each, while France's CAC 40 index was moving down 0.3 percent.
Polymetal International fell as much as 8.5 percent after two private equity investors announced they would sell an aggregate of up to 26m existing ordinary shares in the miner.
Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources dropped more than 1 percent each as gold's recent rally ran out of steam.
Energy stocks such as BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell and Tullow Oil eked out modest gains despite oil prices falling after two days of strong gains.
Benchmark U.S. crude futures fell nearly 2 percent in European trading amid speculation that oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq will not slash or freeze production to stabilize the oil market due to their longstanding political rivalry.
Indivior shares slumped 14 percent as thirty-five U.S. states and the District of Columbia filed a civil complaint against the British drug firm alleging violations of state and federal antitrust and consumer protection laws.
RWE shares dropped 1 percent in Frankfurt after the utility set the price range for an initial public offering of its Innogy SE green energy unit at 32 to 36 euros a share.
E.ON also fell 1 percent on news that it is paying a total of £3.1m after it missed appointments and then failed to compensate customers.
Novartis slid half a percent despite its cancer drug Zykadia showing positive trial results in a Phase III clinical study.
In economic releases, Eurozone private sector grew at the slowest pace in 20 months in September, flash data from Markit showed. The flash composite output index slid to 52.6 from 52.9 in August. Economists had expected the reading to fall marginally to 52.8.
While German private sector logged the weakest expansion in activity in almost one-and-a-half years, the French private sector expanded at the fastest pace in 15 months in the month.
Another official report showed that the French economy contracted in the second quarter on weak household spending and investment. GDP declined 0.1 percent from the first quarter, when it advanced 0.7 percent. The preliminary estimate showed a nil growth for the second quarter.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX