(Reuters) – European shares made lacklustre moves at the open on Thursday, awaiting more signals from Brexit negotiators, while tracking progress in stimulus measures and vaccines as economies still reeled from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK and the European Union might have made enough progress to agree to a trade deal in the next few days, the BBC reported, less than five weeks ahead of Britain’s exit from the bloc.
London’s FTSE 100 stayed near Wednesday’s closing levels, when it ended over 1% higher after United Kingdom became the first country to approve Pfizer and BioNtech’s coronavirus vaccine for roll-out next week. [.L]
After a choppy session on Wall Street overnight due to concerns over a fiscal stimulus package, gains in Asia were limited by a dip in mainland China shares after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that threatened to delist Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was little changed. Eyes will be on services PMIs from the euro zone economies due in the morning session.
(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
