Carmakers were in great demand. Fiat rallied 2.6% after its European market share jumped to 7.6% from 6.5%. Renault SA gained 1.2 %. Porsche AG surged 1.2%. Separately, WestLB AG raised its recommendation to hold from reduce and lifted its price estimate for the shares by 27%.

Decliners

Ahold fell 1.1%, erasing some gains on Thursday, which were prompted by talk of a bid talk for the Dutch retailer from KKR, the private equity group. Sources close to KKR have played down the prospects of it making an offer.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for January delivery advanced 36 cents, or 0.6%, to $62.87 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $62.72 a barrel in early trading in London.

Gold for immediate delivery was at $625.45 an ounce today. It is little changed this week, after dropping 3.2% last week.

Currencies

The euro bought $1.3166 early Friday, up from $1.3152 in New York the previous day. The British pound also gained on the dollar at $1.9627, up from $1.9611 in New York overnight. The dollar remained strong against the Japanese yen, buying 117.97, up from 117.86 on Thursday.