LONDON: European equities mostly declined at the open on Thursday, with investors on tenterhooks before key US economic data.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 0.3 percent to 7,085.04 points compared with Wednesday's close.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index lost 0.2 percent to 15,576.34 points while the Paris CAC 40 was flat at 6,521.60.

"Markets are treading water ahead of more economic data points which will further inform the inflation debate," said analyst Richard Hunter at trading site Interactive Investor.

"One of the drivers of market jitters around inflationary pressures has been bottlenecks in the labour market, and over the next two days the jobless claims number and the non-farm payrolls reading will provide new evidence on the state of the nation."

Friday's non-farm payrolls figures will provide a key snapshot of the world's top economy, with expectations for a big jump as businesses restart and people return to some semblance of normality.

Most Asian markets rose Thursday while traders were also trying to gauge when the Federal Reserve will begin reconsidering its ultra-loose monetary policies in light of a robust economic recovery.

Oil prices also extended gains, fuelled by growing optimism that the reopenings and vaccine rollouts will lead to a surge in activity over the coming months and ramp up demand.