LONDON: Europe's major stock markets retreated in opening trade on Friday, as investors awaited key US jobs data.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading blue-chip firms shed almost 0.1 percent to 7,483.57 points, compared with the closing level on Thursday.
In the eurozone, the Paris CAC 40 lost 0.4 percent to 5,433.84 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 sank nearly 0.4 percent to 12,954.59 points.
The German market was hit by news that the nation's biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, was pushed into the red last year by US President Donald Trump's tax reforms.
Attention was shifting towards the US non-farm payrolls data later on Friday, with a strong reading likely adding to talk that US borrowing costs will continue to rise.
"Today's US payrolls report for January is not expected to undermine the case for higher rates, with expectations of an improvement," noted CMC Markets UK analyst Michael Hewson.
Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower Thursday due to unease over the prospect of higher interest rates as Treasury bond yields hit multi-year highs.
Asian markets swung Friday with some recovering from early losses but traders remain on edge as over the rise in US Treasury yields.
With the Federal Reserve already in the midst of a rate-raising cycle -- it is now tipped to hike at least three times this year -- there is increasing concern about the impact on world markets.
Equity traders around the world have been firing on all cylinders in recent months, sending markets to record or multi-year highs, on confidence in the global economy, healthy earnings and optimism over Trump's tax cuts.
That improvement has also led central banks to temper their crisis-era stimulus measures, which has led to a rise in bond yields, including the key US Treasury market.
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