STOXX 600 heads for weekly loss as European mining stocks fall

Mining stocks weighed on European shares on Friday, tracking a slide in commodity prices as a hawkish policy outlook from the US Federal Reserve cast a dampener on the fifth straight week of gains for the STOXX 600.

The mining index slipped 0.1 per cent, bringing total weekly declines to more than 5 per cent. The pan-European STOXX 600 was flat by 0708 GMT.

The benchmark STOXX 600 recently scaled record highs on assurances from the European Central Bank that it would keep monetary policy loose, but unexpected signals from the Fed around tapering its massive stimulus have dented demand for risky equities.

European insurers, banks and energy stocks were also among the biggest decliners in early trading.

Danish pharmaceutical company Orphazyme sank 75.1 per cent after saying it had failed to win support from the US Food and Drug Administration for its arimoclomol drug, a treatment designed for genetic disorder Niemann-Pick disease type C.