European equities closed slightly lower on Friday, pulling back from recent highs as weakness in technology shares and pharmaceutical makers outweighed gains in financials. The STOXX Europe 50 eased 0.1% from Thursday's record high to 6,541, while the STOXX Europe index fell 0.2% to 658. ASML dipped 0.2% after a strong run this week as investors continued to gauge AI infrastructure spending by hyperscalers (big cloud computing companies), with Anthropic and OpenAI set to undergo IPOs this year. Infineon also declined, falling 1.3%. Drugmakers added to the pressure, with Argenx down 3.2% and Sanofi off 1.2%. By contrast, banks and insurers were mostly firmer despite a jump in European sovereign yields, particularly at the long end of the curve (longer-maturity government debt), as expectations resurfaced that the Federal Reserve could tolerate higher inflation. Deutsche Bank and Intesa Sanpaolo rose nearly 1%, while Allianz and Munich Re gained more than 1%.