Steep declines for Royal Dutch and Philips, the market's two leading shares, left Amsterdam down 9.48 to 962.85 on the AEX index. Electronics giant Philips tumbled 6.70 guilders to Fl95.30 in the wake of Thursday's disappointing third-quarter results. Weak international oil prices and poor third-quarter results from the US oil industry left Royal Dutch down Fl2 at Fl87.40.

Frankfurt ended a volatile day higher, with the Xetra DAX index 31.31 ahead at 4,480.43. Daimler- Benz traded as high as 138 deutschmarks as dealers said it looked as if more than 90 per cent of its shares would be exchanged for new DaimlerChrysler stock. Daimler shares closed DM1.10 at DM133.90.

Weakness was evident in some of the bank stocks as Lehman Brothers issued a downbeat note on the sector. Deutsche Bank, reportedly considering a takeover of Bankers Trust in the US, fell DM1.73 to DM99.77. Dresdner lost DM2.20 to DM60.70 and HypoVereinsbank was DM2 lower at DM135.

Paris gave up 27.16 at 3,393.76 to end with the CAC-40 index virtually level on the week. Renault and Sanofi were among the more notable firm features. Renault, up 2 francs at Ffr207, was said to have benefited from some switching out of the German motor sector. Sanofi added Ffr25 at Ffr850.

The main downside drive came from the banks plus a fall at Usinor of Ffr3.05 or 4.8 per cent to Ffr60.60 on the deteriorating outlook for the steel business globally. Milan closed higher after a volatile session, helped by Telecom Italia, and the Mibtel index rose 289 or 1.5 per cent to 19,641.