London's FTSE 100 benchmark index of leading shares dropped 0.38 percent to 5,823.48 points in afternoon trading.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 fell 0.39 percent to 6,953.87 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.88 percent to 3,441.90.
The euro firmed to $1.3238 from $1.3196 in New York late on Thursday. "The tide turned for equities this week as investor's risk appetite waned," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at brokers Interactive Investor.
"A potential slowdown in global manufacturing and fears for Chinese growth affected markets worldwide, with Asia having their worst week of the year."
Asian markets closed mostly down and Wall Street opened flat.
European stocks had profited in recent weeks following the continent's success in helping Greece avoid a messy default. As governments make progress in paying down their huge deficits, companies are also reducing their debt piles.
British telecoms firm BT said on Friday that it planned to spend £2.0 billion (2.4 billion euros, $3.17 billion) on almost halving its pension scheme deficit.
BT said it had struck a deal with the trustee of its pension plan to reduce the company's £4.1-billion pension fund shortfall -- a move that sparked big demand for its shares.
BT shares jumped 5.0 percent to 231.4 pence on Friday, topping the FTSE 100 in the process.
The British company had "pulled an early Easter pensions bunny out of the hat," Deutsche Bank said in a research note to clients.
Elsewhere on Friday, Asian stock markets mostly closed lower.
Tokyo fell 1.14 percent, Sydney finished flat, Hong Kong slipped 1.11 percent, and Shanghai lost 1.10 percent.
But Mumbai bucked the gloomy trend, rising 0.96 percent on bargain hunting, while Seoul eked out a small gain.
US stocks opened flat as mounting signs of slower world growth kept a pall over trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.07 percent to 13,036.60 points in the first 10 minutes of trade.
The broad-market S&P 500 lost 0.03 percent to 1,392.34 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was nearly flat at 3,063.17.
The failure of the markets to get a boost from Thursday's positive jobs numbers "suggests that weakening global growth has become the new concern for the market," said the Hightower Report.
New claims for US unemployment benefits continuing to fall last week to a fresh four-year low of 348,000.
Good US job numbers and encouraging signs of growth had fuelled global stock markets' impressive rally since the turn of the year.
"The six month equity rally has been built on lower than normal volumes, so investors are worried that the foundations are not as strong as they might be," said O'Keeffe.
"And with some markets reaching four-year highs, it is not a surprise that some money is being taken off the table," she added.
Sentiment has turned sour as data showed manufacturing activity in China, the world's number two economy, hit a four-month low, while separate figures indicated that the eurozone was in recession.