European stocks mostly advance on bright global outlook

Most of Europe's stock markets ran into profit-taking Thursday as the continent's main currencies posted fresh gains against the dollar, weighing on export-heavy stocks, and Wall Street stalled in early New York trading.

The underlying mood remained confident, however, traders said, buoyed by bullish Chinese data, strong corporate earnings and New York's record close the previous day amid optimism over the impact of US President Donald Trump's tax cuts.

Paris reversed an earlier stronger trend to post slight losses overall, but Airbus shares were 2.2 percent higher after Emirates Airlines struck a $16-billion deal to buy 36 Airbus A-380 superjumbos, having traded as much as three percent up on the day during the morning session.

The Emirates order throws the A-380 programme a lifeline only days after the European manufacturer said it would have to halt production without new orders.

London also lapsed into the red as market participants eyed the strong pound, which weighs on the performance of multinational companies.

Frankfurt was the European standout, with the Dax gaining as German semiconductor giant Infineon's shares surged a day after stellar annual results from Dutch computer chip maker ASML.

"Semiconductor bell weather ASML had blowout results, driving up European tech," Will Hamlyn, senior equity investment analyst at Manulife Asset Management, told AFP.

Wall Street was flat at the opening, with "the markets assessing the recent global rally", according to Charles Schwab analysts.

But FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said that the market may well find strong support "as US equity bulls linger in the vicinity".

 - Hong Kong sparkles - 

Once again, Hong Kong was the star performer in Asia, notching up an historic record as investors tracked another milestone on Wall Street.

Hong Kong rose 0.4 percent, holding above the 32,000 mark it broke in the morning for the first time in its history. The market has fallen only once in the past 17 trading days.

Shanghai ended up 0.9 percent. After the market closed data showed the Chinese economy grew a forecast-beating 6.9 percent in 2017, the first annual improvement in the growth rate since 2010.

The GDP reading follows strong trade data last week, which showed the humming global economy had propelled China's export machine. 

Hamlyn however sounded a note of caution about this year's global markets rally.

"There's a lot of froth in markets, valuations are right up there -- not at the crazy levels of the bubble era, but there are signs of excess everywhere," he told AFP.

Bitcoin climbed more than 10 percent, according to Bloomberg data, a day after falling through the $10,000 mark for the first time since mid-December.

 - Key figures around 1435 GMT - 

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,687.20 points

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.6 percent at 13,268.39

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 5,491.21

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.2 percent at 3,618.39

New York - DOW: FLAT at 26,109.84

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 23,763.37 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.4 percent at 32,121.94 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,474.75 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.2249 from $1.2198 at 2200 GMT

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3882 from $1.3833

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 111.04 yen from 111.26 yen

Oil - Brent North Sea: DOWN 32 cents at $69.06 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 17 cents at $63.80