European stocks steady as US shuts for Thanksgiving

London stocks ended the day flat as markets further digested the UK government's tax-raising budget unveiled Wednesday.

Meanwhile UK government bond yields held steady and the pound drifted higher, as the measures reassured markets.  

Paris equities also ended flat while Frankfurt edged higher. 

"European markets are showing a distinct lack of direction... and traders shouldn't expect too much given a threadbare economic calendar and US Thanksgiving market closure," noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

"Investors were unwilling to take on fresh exposure with the US closed for Thanksgiving today," noted Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.

With recent worries over stretched valuations appearing to be on the back burner, sentiment has been lifted on trading floors this week, boosting riskier assets, including bitcoin.

The cryptocurrency, which recently plunged to a seven-month low just above $80,000 amid the recent market swoon, rose back above $90,000 on Thursday. 

However, it is still off its record high of above $126,200, which it touched in early October.

Comments from Fed officials and a string of weak US jobs reports have reinforced expectations that the central bank's next policy meeting in December will end with a third successive reduction in borrowing costs.

Markets are now pricing in around an 85-percent chance of a cut on December 10 and a further three next year. That compares with just three reductions in total that Bloomberg said had been previously expected.

All three main indices on Wall Street pushed higher for a fourth-straight day Wednesday ahead of the holiday.

Tokyo led the way in Asia on Thursday, climbing more than one percent, while Hong Kong and Shanghai closed higher.

On the downside, Tokyo-listed beer titan Asahi fell as it said it would delay its financial results owing to a cyberattack that began in September.

The maker of Asahi Super Dry, one of Japan's most popular beers, announced it was experiencing system troubles on September 29, stopping its ability to receive orders and to ship products. It blamed a ransomware attack.

And South Korea's biggest crypto exchange Upbit said it had suspended deposits and withdrawals following an unauthorised transfer of about $37 million of digital assets.

The announcement came as it emerged that its parent Dunamu would be bought by Naver Financial, one of the country's top tech giants, in a deal valued at more than $13 billion.

Upbit is the world's fourth-largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume.

Oil prices edged higher after having fallen earlier this week on the prospect of a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine leading to a return of Russian crude to international markets.

"Traders look to be positioning themselves ahead of Sunday’s OPEC/OPEC+ meetings," said Trade Nations' Morrison. 

The eight key members of the OPEC+ alliance, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed at the beginning of November to pause their output increases for three months following a small increase in December.

- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 9,693.93 points (close)

Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 8,099.47 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 23,767.96 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 50,167.10 (close) 

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 25,945.93 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,875.26 (close)

New York - Dow: Closed for a public holiday.

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1602 from $1.1598 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3252 from $1.3239

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.30 yen from 156.42 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.56 pence from 87.60 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $62.75 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $58.97 per barrel

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