LONDON: Europe's stock markets were subdued on Thursday as the region began voting in parliamentary polls, while traders reacted to global economic data releases and company updates.
The euro slid against the dollar as dealers digested minutes from the US Federal Reserve's last monetary policy meeting.
London's FTSE 100 index of top companies slipped 0.03 percent to stand at 6,818.76 points in afternoon trade.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 edged up 0.08 percent to reach 9,706.07 points and the CAC 40 in Paris tacked on 0.13 percent to 4,445.04.
Stocks had won an early "boost out of China where a closely watched manufacturing PMI released by HSBC overnight showed a surprisingly strong rise indicating that the Chinese economy either has likely bottomed or is close to bottoming", said Markus Huber, senior analyst at broker Peregrine & Black.
Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari traders said data from the eurozone "has been less impressive, particularly the numbers from France, where both the manufacturing and the services sector contracted in May".
In Britain, which is not a member of the eurozone but is part of the European Union, official data confirmed that the country's economy rose by 0.8 percent in the first quarter.
Britain and the Netherlands kicked-off Europe's mammoth parliamentary elections on Thursday in a vote that is expected to see a swing towards populist right-wing parties.
The elections, which are spread over four days in the EU's 28 member states, are set to produce major gains for parties bent on dismantling the European Union from the inside.
As millions voted, the euro slid $1.3665 from $1.3686 late in New York on Wednesday.
The European single currency gained to 81.097 British pence from 80.97 pence Wednesday when sterling had reached a 16-month high versus the euro.
The British pound fell to $1.6876 from $1.6898. The price of gold climbed to $1,294.50 an ounce from $1,287.25 Wednesday on the London Bullion Market.
Royal Mail shares stumble:
On the corporate front, shares in Royal Mail dived 6.8 percent to 536.11 pence after the recently part-privatised British postal operator warned over rising competition after announcing a surge in annual profits.
London-listed Unilever fell 0.67 percent to 2,677 pence after the Dutch consumer goods giant said it was selling its North American Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauce businesses to a Japanese group for $2.15 billion (1.57 billion euros) as it focuses on higher margin beauty products.
Asian shares mostly rose Thursday on the improvement in Chinese manufacturing activity, as well as the minutes from the US Federal Reserve that showed officials are considering their policy options after the bank's stimulus programme ends
Tokyo rallied 2.11 percent, Sydney jumped 1.02 percent, and Seoul gained 0.36 percent. Hong Kong rose 0.51 percent but Shanghai gave up 0.18 percent.
HSBC said preliminary data from its purchasing managers index (PMI) showed activity in China's factories declining at a much slower pace in May than in April.
The banking giant's PMI improved to 49.7 from 48.1 last month. While the figure is below the 50-mark -- suggesting contraction it is the second straight month of improvement and will fuel hopes that the world's number two economy is picking up.
Wall Street opened mostly lower after a report showed a surprisingly large rise in US jobless claims.
Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23 percent to 16,495.75 points, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.09 percent to 1,886.27, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose a scant 0.02 percent to 4,132.27.
The US Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims, a measure of the pace of layoffs, totaled 326,000 in the week ending May 17, a gain of 28,000 from the prior week.
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