By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks edged higher Friday, but the region's benchmark remained on track for a weekly decline.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.1% at 342.24. It still faces a 1.6% fall for the week, which would be the biggest weekly pullback since mid-April, according to FactSet data.

Shares of Barclays PLC (BCS) were up 1.5% after the shares on Thursday dropped 6.5% to 19-month low on U.S. legal problems. Reports said Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins said in a staff memo Thursday that the bank will conduct an internal probe following accusations of fraud in a lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General.

Late Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that major brokers are closing their connections to a dark pool run by Barclays in the wake of the lawsuit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Decliners were led by Ophir Energy , down 4.4% following a downgrade to neutral from buy at UBS, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The British oil exploration company on Thursday issued a disappointing update about a dry well in offshore Gabon.

Among country indexes, U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 6,754.14, France's CAC 40 index rose 0.3% to 4,453, and Germany's DAX 30 equity index picked up 0.2% to 9,828.90.

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