The pan-European Stoxx 600 edged 0.1% higher at the start of the morning session, with technology and travel & leisure the best performing sectors on a 0.8% rise, while utility stocks fell 0.7%.

· Asian shares stumbled on Friday and gold jumped amid rising doubts that a highly anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this weekend could lead to an easing of trade tensions.

Uncertainty over whether the talks will produce progress in ending the year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies comes amid signs of rising risks to global growth.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.25%. Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 ended down 0.29%.

“Central expectations for the G20 meeting between Trump and Xi are that negotiations will resume, additional U.S. tariffs will be delayed, China will buy more U.S. goods and talks over tech-trade will gain renewed focus,” analysts at ANZ said in a note.

“However, as the difficulty of resolving economic aspirations between the two countries is herculean, markets remain cautious.”

· Tokyo stocks fell on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of much awaited talks between U.S. and Chinese leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan, with cyclical shares retreating before the weekend.

The benchmark Nikkei average dropped 0.3% to 21,275.92 points, having risen 1.2% on Thursday after a South China Morning Post report raised hopes Washington and Beijing might make progress in talks.

For June, the Nikkei rose 3.3% for the first monthly gain since April, though it was almost flat for the week.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping was possible this weekend but he is prepared to impose U.S. tariffs on most remaining Chinese imports if the two countries don’t agree.

· China stocks edged down on Friday and ended lower for the week, as Beijing and Washington talked tough on trade issues before the widely-watched meeting between U.S and China presidents this weekend at the G20 summit.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.6% at 2,978.88 and down 0.8% for the week. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.2%, while it also ended 0.2% lower on a weekly basis.

The market still ended higher for the month, buoyed by positive developments on the trade deal front earlier in June. The Shanghai benchmark ended the month up 2.8%, while the CSI300 was up 5.4% month-on-month.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters