European stock markets ended the week in negative territory on Friday in lacklustre trading and in line with a weaker opening on Wall Street, where sentiment was dampened by disappointing results from computer maker Dell.

In London the FTSE 100 index shed 0.31 percent to close at 5251.41 points while in Paris the CAC 40 fell 0.82 percent to 3729.36. The Frankfurt Dax lost 0.68 percent and finished at 5663.15.

Elsewhere there were losses of 1.07 percent in Madrid, 0.09 percent in Brussels, 1.36 percent in Milan, 1.05 percent in Amsterdam and 0.03 percent on the Swiss Market Index.

US stocks drifted downward, with the tech sector in focus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 0.42 percent to 10 288.69 by mid-day, when the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.82 percent at 2139.03.

US stocks started off the last trading day of the week on a bearish note after Dell reported late on Thursday that quarterly net profit declined 54 percent and revenue dropped 15 percent.

The news came a day after a Bank of America Merrill Lynch's downgrade of eight microchip companies, including Intel and Texas Instruments, kept the market jittery.

Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer's Investment Research said the technology sector was "in trouble" as the market opened as "traders reacted negatively" to Dell's third-quarter earnings report which missed expectations.

"What's more, Dell's miss arrives on the heels of Bank of America's downgrade of several semiconductor stocks on Thursday," he said.

Dell slumped 9.33 percent to 14.39 dollars.

Analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said traders "continue to rein in risk appetites" while grappling with whether the economic recovery from recession can continue without major problems.

They said economic data this week had done little to soothe recovery concerns, with a slightly hotter-than-expected reading of prices at the consumer level, a smaller-than-expected increase in industrial production, unexpected declines in both housing starts and building permits, and a jobless claims report that failed to drop below the 500 000 mark as some had hoped.

"This week?s dose of data has been hard for the Street to swallow, exacerbating the economic uncertainty and prompting the pullback in risk-taking," they said in a note to clients.

In London the FTSE ended lower for the fourth straight day, dragged down by comments from mortgage lender Nationwide foreseeing a big slide in housing prices next year.

Banks were under pressure, with Lloyd's losing 1.99 percent and Barclays 1.35 percent.

Mining companies defied the trend. Johnson Matthey gained 1.74 percent and Antofagasta 1.18 percent.

In Paris food group Danone bounced back from a loss on Thursday and closed with a gain of 1.57 percent.

The tech sector suffered from the Dell results. STMicroelectronics lost 3.46 percent and Soitec 4.11 percent.

In Frankfurt Deutsche Bank fell 2.71 percent after being placed on a "watch" lost by Moody's with a negative outlook because of its exposure to potentially bad credit and a recovery in its risk appetite.

Elsewhere in the sector Commerzbank shed 3.74 percent.

Asian markets closed lower on Friday as investors followed the Wall Street tumble and as Japan declared it was in a state of deflation, or falling prices.

Tokyo lost 0.54 percent, Hong Kong 0.83 percent, Sydney 1.34 percent and Taipei shed one percent.