Frankfurt - A tumultuous trading week on global share markets drew to a close Friday, with European bourses defying renewed volatility on Wall Street and holding on to gains run up during the day.

After closing down 5 per cent on Thursday, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 index headed toward the end of the week up 3.8 per cent, at 2,219 points.

The close came despite the fact that Wall Street opened down as further data underscored the grim state of the US housing market, which is already in crisis.

London, Europe's leading stock market, headed into the end of week with a gain of about 2 per cent, while Paris's CAC 40 index edged up 0.91 per cent, following a 4.37-per-cent jump shortly after opening on Friday.

The hard-pressed French-Belgian bank Dexia led the losers, giving up 11.3 per cent, while steel maker Vallourec was off 5.3 per cent.

In the meantime, shares in Frankfurt also chalked big swings Friday. The DAX rose more than 4 per cent in early trading, before slumping into negative territory. It gained 1 per cent in late trading after the German parliament signed off the government's bank rescue plan.

The erratic mood was repeated across other European bourses, with the Stockholm stock market's general index OMXS in minus in late afternoon trading.

After posting a 4 per cent gain in early trading, Copenhagen pulled back to only a 1 per cent rise in afternoon trading. It received support from banking shares.

At the same time, oil rose Friday from a 15-month low of under 70 dollars a barrel, increasing 1.9 per cent to 71.62 dollars a barrel. Still, oil is about 50 per cent lower than its peak.

This has led the oil producers' cartel, OPEC, to call an emergency meeting for next week.

In the meantime, further signs emerged of a thawing in frozen global credit markets. That freeze has been at the heart of the financial crisis that has plunged the world economy to the brink of recession.

Friday's relative calm came after a turbulent week.

Share indexes charged ahead Monday in the wake of optimism after governments announced they would ride to the aid of the troubled world financial system with rescue plans.

But by mid-week, recession fears and growing worries about the outlook for corporate earnings sparked another big global share selloff. The Tokyo stock market chalked up its largest fall since the 1987 share market crash.

However, Asian markets reacted cautiously to the big swings on the New York Stock Exchange in the last few days, unsure whether Wall Street would be able to sustain the rally.

While Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed up 2.78 per cent, Hong Kong shares fell 4.4 per cent to record their third-consecutive day of heavy losses.

Shares on the Seoul stock exchange also dropped by 2.7 per cent on recession fears. Stocks in Shanghai rose by 1.08 per cent.

Key markets in Central Europe came under pressure as the week came to an end, with Warsaw sinking by 3.95 per cent in late trading, Prague falling by 10.2 per cent and Moscow slumping by 4.44 per cent. Budapest lost 4.56 per cent.

On Thursday Hungary was forced to turn to the European Central Bank for financial assistance to help it makes it way through the current financial crisis. (dpa)