U.S. jobs data showed that the U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than five years in May, with non-farm payrolls rising by only 38,000 jobs last month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a rise of 164,000.

Such weakness in the U.S. labour market could make it more difficult for the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

"This is a really bad figure and there will be consequences," Ken Odeluga, market analyst at City Index, said, adding that he expected the Federal Reserve to soften its hawkish tone.

Britain's FTSE 100 <.FTSE> was up 24.02 points, or 0.4 percent, at 6,209.63 points at its close, having reduced gains made earlier in the session.

Precious metals miners were in demand as investors sought safe-haven assets with Fresnillo (>> Fresnillo Plc) and Randgold Resources (>> Randgold Resources Limited) rallying 7.6 percent and 6.8 percent respectively.

Mining <.FTNMX1770> shares gained 3.8 percent, the sector's biggest daily gain in a month and half, and energy shares <.FTNMX0530> were also up 1.2 percent as oil and copper prices rose.

Brent crude climbed above $50 a barrel to near seven-month highs, despite an OPEC meeting that yielded no deal on a supply ceiling. Investors took heart from Saudi Arabia's pledge not to flood the market and from a decline in U.S. crude supply.

Oil majors BP (>> BP plc) and Shell were up 1.5 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

"The perkiness of its commodity sector (is) the main driver of growth this Friday... despite another display of OPEC's ineffectiveness on Thursday," Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said in a note.

UK mid-cap Indivior (>> Indivior PLC) surged over 36 percent after the pharmaceuticals company won a ruling to keep generic versions of Suboxane off the U.S. market until 2024, according to a media report.

British supermarket stocks were the biggest fallers on the blue chip index, however, with Tesco (>> Tesco PLC), Sainsbury (>> J Sainsbury plc) and Morrison (>> WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC) all down between 3.8 percent and 4.4 percent respectively. One trader cited a Bloomberg share report indicating Wal-Mart’s (>> Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) Asda plans to lower prices.

ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format from 0600 London time through  the 1630 closing bell, it will include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service, Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.

                 If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com. 

                 Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA.

(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

By Kit Rees and Alistair Smout