A halt in this week's rally in oil prices held back European stocks Friday as worries about the global economic outlook lingered on. The dollar was down 0.15 percent against a basket of major currencies.
The renewed aversion to risky assets pushed the Japanese yen to 2 1/2-year high against the euro. Sterling held steady as talks for a changes in Britain's European Union membership dragged on through the night.
A record buildup in U.S. crude stockpiles stoked concern about global oversupply, outweighing moves by oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, to cap oil output.
Oil prices rose more than 14 percent in the three days to Thursday after Saudi Arabia and Russia, supported by other exporters, including Venezuela and Iraq, moved to freeze oil output at January's levels. Iran endorsed the plan without commitment on Wednesday.
If approved, it would be the first such agreement in 15 years among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members.