On Friday European stocks fell to their lowest level in a month as a retreat in auto and construction-related companies offset takeover activity in the energy industry. US futures and Asian shares also fell.

Valeo SA and Porsche SE retreated more than 2 per cent, leading the biggest drop among the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s 19 industry groups. Holcim Ltd. fell for a second day as analysts cut their price estimates on the cement maker. Dana Petroleum plc jumped more than five per cent after Korea National Oil Corp. made a $2.9 billion hostile takeover bid for the UK explorer.

European stocks fell in early trade, down for the third straight day and tracking US and Asian losses after poor US data brought fears of a double-dip recession back to the forefront of investors’ minds.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.5 per cent, on track to record a 1.4 per cent loss on the week.

European financial and mining shares were among the top losers, with Allianz down 1.4 per cent, Societe Generale down 1.1 per cent and Xstrata down 2.1 per cent.

Oil major BP was down in London trading and closed lower in New York trading on Thursday. US officials said the company likely won’t put the final plug in its blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well until September, while scientists said the oil spill left a large plume of hydrocarbons in deep waters, and those chemicals could be there for some time.

Japanese stocks dropped, sending benchmark gauges to their second weekly decline, after worse- than-expected jobs and manufacturing data in the US and on a report Sharp Corp. will cut output of liquid crystal displays.

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