European shares dip after strong week as earnings take centre stage

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MILAN (Reuters) - European shares fell in early deals on Friday as investors took profits at the end of a strong week with earnings taking centre stage as political worries subsided, while UBS soared after a profit beat.

The STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0719 GMT, adding to the previous session's losses, while UK's FTSE also was down 0.1 percent and France's CAC was flat.

UBS rallied 3.7 percent as a long-awaited turnaround in its core wealth management business helped Switzerland's biggest bank deliver its second-best start to a year since the financial crisis.

Barclays fell 3.8 percent after its investment bank missed out on a bond trading boom that saw earnings surge at its Wall Street rivals, even though its first quarter profit more than doubled.

Despite Friday's losses, the pan-European index is up more than 2 percent so far this week, and close to a 20 month high, as fresh money poured into the region's equities following the market friendly outcome of the first round of France's presidential election.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Editing by Vikram Subhedar)