European stocks pared gains in afternoon trade on Friday, closing only slightly higher after a report the European Central Bank has discussed whether it could raise interest rates before ending its program of monthly asset purchases. "Stock markets spent most of Friday in positive territory with investors still unwilling to bet against higher prices despite strong odds of a rate increase in the U.S. next week. Data showing solid U.S. job growth makes a rate hike at next week's meeting of the Federal Reserve a near certainty," said Jasper Lawler, senior market analyst, at London Capital Group, in a note.

U.S. stocks closed higher Friday on a stronger-than-expected February jobs report, but major benchmarks snapped multiweek winning streaks as oil prices weighed on markets over the past five sessions. The U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs in February, while the January number was revised to show payrolls rose 238,000, pushing the unemployment rate to 4.7%. Hourly pay increased 2.8% from February 2016 to February 2017, up from 2.6% in the prior month.

Global stocks lacked direction at the beginning of the week, with some markets in Asia ignoring a positive lead from the U.S. as local drivers took precedence. Trading was subdued at the start of what stands to be an action-packed week, with the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan set to make interest rate decisions. According to CME Group data, there is an 88.6% probability of the Fed raising rates.