European Shares Head Lower

European shares turned negative on Friday morning, giving up a little of the strong gains of the previous session, and with Italian stocks lower after a bond auction.

At 1031 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,017.70 points, after earlier being as high as 1,028.48.

The Italian benchmark was down 2 percent after demand at a bond auction was weak.