Major stock markets were mostly down on Wednesday, with Bitcoin trading near all-time highs as attention focused on the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Stock indexes in Paris and Frankfurt fell near midday trading as official figures showed the euro zone economy grew more than expected in the third quarter, with Germany avoiding recession.
Outside the euro zone, London's stock market fell on Wednesday awaiting the new UK Labor government's first budget, which is expected to raise taxes.
Asia's top indexes ended mostly lower, while the dollar was mixed against major rival markets in foreign exchange.
Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet rose in after-hours trading following its earnings report and ahead of announcements from Apple and Microsoft.
Markets are also awaiting a number of key U.S. economic indicators for further clues about the health of the world's largest economy and how that will dictate the pace of future interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. .
U.S. growth forecasts for the third quarter will be released on Wednesday, followed by inflation and employment data over the weekend.
Bitcoin stabilized a day after coming just shy of the all-time high of $73,797.98 reached in March.
The recent surge in Bitcoin prices is seen as a bet that the Republican Party will win next week's U.S. vote, with Donald Trump emerging as a pro-crypto candidate.
However, the outcome of the poll remains uncertain for many analysts, which pushed the price of investment gold to a new all-time high of $2,789.86 an ounce on Wednesday.
Oil prices rebounded slightly as volatility dominated oil trading amid the twists and turns of the Middle East crisis.
“Oil prices appear to be ignoring improving U.S. economic data and China's stimulus efforts to revive its struggling economy,” said Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com. said.
– Main figures around 1045 GMT –
London – FTSE 100: down 0.2% to 8,200.78 points
Paris – CAC 40: down 1.3% to 7,415.43
Frankfurt – DAX: down 0.7 to 19,336.35
Tokyo – Nikkei Stock Average: 1.0% higher at 39,277.39 (closing price)
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index: 1.6% lower at 20,380.64 (closing price)
Shanghai – Overall: down 0.6% to 3,266.24 (close price)
New York – Dow: down 0.4% to 42,233.05 (closing price)
EUR/USD: up to $1.0835 from $1.0816 on Tuesday
GBP/USD: down from $1.3010 to $1.2974
Dollar/JPY: fell from 153.57 yen to 152.87 yen
EUR/GBP: up from 83.13p to 83.49p
Brent crude oil: up 1.0% to $71.84 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: up 1.1% to $67.92 per barrel
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