LONDON: Europe's main stock markets held steady in morning deals on Thursday, after a downbeat session in Asia and mixed trading overnight on Wall Street, as investors awaited a raft of US economic data.
London's FTSE 100 index of top shares fell 0.19 percent to 5,934.26 points, with sentiment hit after Fitch lowered Britain's long-term outlook to negative from stable, while confirming its top-level AAA rating.
Elsewhere on Thursday, Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.14 percent to 7,089.86 points and the Paris CAC 40 was flat at 3,564.78.
The European single currency rose to $1.3048 from $1.3030 late in New York on Wednesday.
Later on Thursday, traders will digest a raft of US economic data that includes weekly jobless claims and producer prices.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will also publish its March Empire State Index, followed by the Philadelphia Fed Index for March.
"Investors are looking stateside for a further demonstration of improvement in the US economy with weekly jobless claims, Empire Manufacturing and PPI data, followed by the Philadelphia Fed," said analyst Mike Mason at Sucden Financial Private Clients.
"The FTSE is treading water and is currently trading marginally lower early morning off the back of Fitch lowering its UK outlook to negative despite maintaining the UK's AAA rating," he added.
Britain's biggest retailer Tesco saw its share price drop 0.97 percent to 321.8 pence after the world's third biggest supermarket said its head of British operations had quit following the group's recent profits warning.
Elsewhere on Thursday, the International Monetary Fund's board was to set a new 28-billion-euro ($36.5 billion) loan for Greece, a day after the eurozone signed off on its new bailout program for the country.
Despite some misgivings among members over the fund pouring more money into troubled Greece and Europe, and worries that Greece's fractious politics might impede progress in restructuring its finances, the loan program is expected to pass.
After keeping its plans secret for weeks until the EU and Athens could complete a massive 107 billion euro private sector debt writeoff, last Friday IMF chief Christine Lagarde announced a larger than expected 28 billion euros proposal.
"It is a neutral start of the session -- with a rather light economic calendar today, European stock are stalling at 8-month highs," noted trader Anita Paluch at Gekko Global Markets.
"The news that a 28-billion-euro IMF loan for Greece is expected to be agreed today does not seem to have much impact."
Asian markets mostly fell on Thursday following two days of gains that were rooted in growing optimism over Greece and the US economy.
Investors took a breather following increases fuelled by Greece's successful debt swap with private creditors last week, strong US jobs data and upbeat comments from the Federal Reserve on US economy.
Wall Street traded mixed on Wednesday, holding onto most of the gains made in Tuesday's huge bank-driven rally.
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