U.K. stocks ended lower for a second straight session Friday, with retail stocks in the red, but London's blue-chip benchmark still notched a win for the week. How markets are faring: The FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.10% shed 0.1% to close at 7,409.64. Tech, health care and consumer-related shares fell, but the financial and oil-and gas sectors ended higher.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished at all-time highs Friday, with all three main benchmarks booking their first weekly gains in three weeks. Retailers were in focus amid the Black Friday shopping holiday, a day after domestic markets were closed in observance of Thanksgiving.

Asian stock markets started the week with fresh selling, with Chinese shares lower following Thursday's slump and the Korean market weighed by heavy losses for Samsung Electronics. Chinese equities sent a shudder through global markets on Thursday when leading stock indexes there tumbled over 2%.