In Paris, L’Oreal lost 3.9% as growth in sales at the cosmetics and beauty group failed to impress the market. Also in the news, EADS, struggling with losses caused by the Airbus division A380 plane delays, named Louis Gallois as sole chief executive officer. Total, the largest oil refiner in Europe, announced profit from converting crude oil into gasoline, diesel and other products increased 12% in the second quarter from a year earlier.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was lower against other major currencies in European trading Friday morning. The euro traded at $1.3797, up from $1.3789 late Friday. The British pound traded at $2.0392, up from $2.0336. The dollar bought 121.61 Japanese yen, down from 122.03.

Gold traded in London at $667.25 per troy ounce, up from $665.30 late Friday.

Brent crude oil traded above $78 a barrel in London for the first time since Aug. 9 as field maintenance limited North Sea supplies.

Crude oil in New York for August delivery gained 51 cents, or 0.7%, to $74.44 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

5:30AM Gold dips, copper advances, oil finishes higher, corn ends higher.

August gold lost $1 to end at $667.30 an ounce on the Nymex, while September silver dipped 7 cents to $13.11 an ounce.

Copper advanced nearly 1% on the LME and added 1.2 cents to finish at $3.593 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nymex crude oil, which has ended 10 straight trading sessions above $70 a barrel, gained $1.43 to close at $73.93 a barrel after briefly hitting $74.

Hopes for continuing builds in gasoline inventories weighed pressure futures down 4.15 cents to end at $2.2248 a gallon.

In Chicago, agriculture futures oscillated throughout the day. December corn gained 3.25 cents to $3.685 a bushel, while November soybeans advanced 7.25 cents a bushel to $9.4875.

Wheat futures closed down 0.75 cent to $6.2075.