On Friday European stocks fell, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index headed for its longest streak of weekly losses since August, as China’s growth slowed last quarter more than forecast. U.S. index futures were little changed, while Asian shares rose.

UniCredit SpA and Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl led European banks lower. Cap Gemini and SAP AG dropped at least 2 percent. Stada Arzneimittel AG, the German maker of generic drugs, lost 3.1 percent after JPMorgan & Chase Co. reduced its recommendation for the company’s shares. L’Oreal SA, the world’s largest cosmetics maker, rose 2.3 percent after first-quarter sales topped analysts’ estimates.

The Stoxx 600 dropped 0.5 percent to 256.19 at 12:01 p.m. in London. The gauge is heading for its fourth week of losses amid mounting concern that the region’s debt crisis is worsening and as a U.S. report showed employers added fewer jobs in March than forecast.

The Stoxx 600 jumped 1.2 percent yesterday, its biggest advance in more than a week, after the Federal Reserve signaled interest rates will remain low to support economic growth. The volume of shares changing hands in the gauge’s companies was 18 percent lower during the day than the average of the last 30 days.

Growth in China’s economy, the world’s second biggest, slowed more than forecast last quarter to the least in almost three years. Gross domestic product rose 8.1 percent from a year earlier following an 8.9 percent increase in the fourth quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said during the day.

Japanese stocks rose, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average rising the most in two weeks, after a North Korean rocket launch failed and Fast Retailing Co. forecast record profit. Shares pared gains as slower growth in China tempered optimism from a surge in new lending.