European stocks mainly fell on Friday as investors ran for cover following sharp losses across global equities that were linked to fresh economic woes in the United States, dealers said. Across Asia on Friday, traders` screens turned red as investors ran for cover after steep Wall Street losses on Thursday that were sparked by the faltering housing sector in the United States. Analysts are concerned that the country`s housing market could spark a "credit crunch" and spread to the wider global economy, dealers said. "Traders are well and truly spooked over the US credit issues, whilst mixed earnings data is adding to the general level of concern," said CMC Markets dealer Matt Buckland. Tokyo share prices ended the week at a near three-month low, and stock markets in Frankfurt and Paris also fell, reversing earlier gains. But London rebounded slightly after hitting the lowest finish for more than four years on Thursday. In early afternoon deals on Friday, Frankfurt`s DAX 30 index of top shares sank 0.64 percent to 7,460.62 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.40 percent to 5,652.21. Both indices had slumped by more than 2.0 percent on Thursday. On Friday, London`s prestigious FTSE 100 index gained a marginal 0.07 percent to 6,255.30 points. The FTSE had plunged by 3.15 percent on Thursday -- which was the heaviest daily loss since March 2003. The market fell "on the back of concerns that the US subprime mortgage crisis could have a larger impact on other markets worldwide than previously thought," said analysts at the Sucden brokerage in London. In the foreign exchange arena, the dollar rose to the highest level against the euro for more than two weeks ahead of crucial US economic growth data. Wall Street shares had plunged on Thursday in one of the worst selloffs this year, as investors were gripped by housing market fears. Analysts are concerned that the faltering US housing sector will hurt banks and finance companies enough to curb the availability of credit on which the economy feeds. That, in turn, could impact on private equity groups because their takeover bids are often financed by large amounts of bank debt. Britain`s Cadbury Schweppes said Friday that it has been forced to extend the timetable for the sale of Americas Beverages due to the recent "extreme volatility" in debt markets. Analysts believe that Cadbury may have to sell Americas Beverages for 7.0 billion pounds (10.42 billion euros, 14.25 billion dollars), rather than the 8.0 billion which investors had anticipated. In US deals on Thursday, the market reacted to more gloomy news about the US housing market, which has been in a slump for more than a year and a half. Data showed sales of new homes dropped 6.6 percent in June to an annualized 834,000 units. Over the past year, sales of new homes plunged 22.3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank as much as 448 points before bouncing back somewhat, ending with a loss of 2.26 percent at 13,473.57 points. It was the worst day for the blue-chip index since the February 27 tumble in the wake of a stock market collapse in Shanghai. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite sank 1.84 percent to 2,599.34 and the broad-market Standard Poor`s 500 index slid 2.33 percent to 1,482.66 points. Shares prices went on to tumble across Asia on Friday. The Tokyo stock market, the world`s second largest, plummeted 2.36 percent to 17,283.81 points -- which was the worst finish since May 1 for the benchmark Nikkei-225 index of leading shares. Hong Kong`s key Hang Seng Index closed down 2.76 percent at 22,570.41 points. Market players around Asia are carefully watching to see if the US troubles spread across the Pacific, said Kazuhiro Takahashi, head of the equity department at Daiwa Securities SMBC. "They will take one month or so to make sure the problem isn`t hurting the global economy, which is largely expected to be solid towards next year," Takahashi said. "It is unlikely that the markets will rise back sharply after such a big drop," he added.