European stocks opened flat on Friday after two sessions of gains, as the effect of this week's upbeat signals on US-China
trade talks and European politics wore off, with investors' attention turning to US jobs data due later in the day.
The pan-European
STOXX 600 index was roughly unchanged at 0715 GMT after starting marginally lower, with the exporter-heavy FTSE 100 lagging the broader market as London-listed miners fell.
Thyssenkrupp AG was the biggest gainer on
Germany's
DAX index with a 1.3 per cent gain after
Finland's Kone said it and a private equity partner would bid for the conglomerate's elevator business.
The DAX rose 0.3 per cent, shrugging off data showing an unexpected fall in industrial output in July.