U.S. stock futures ticked higher and government bond yields edged down as technology shares looked set to partially recover from Thursday's rout.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.1%. Tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures added 0.8%. Changes in futures don't necessarily predict movements after the opening bell.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.7% in morning trade. Consumer staples and information technology sectors posted the main losses while utilities sector rose.

Micro Focus International declined 3%.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 1.2%. Other stock indexes in Europe also mostly slipped as France's CAC 40 was down 0.7%, the U.K.'s FTSE 250 lost 0.9% and Germany's DAX was down 0.5%.

The Swiss franc, the euro and the British pound strengthened 0.1%, 0.1% and 0.2% respectively against the U.S. dollar.

In commodities, Brent crude fell 0.2% to $63.13 a barrel. Gold was up 0.4% to $1,739.70 a troy ounce.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys fell to 1.679% from 1.730% on Thursday. German 10-year bund yields slipped to minus 0.300% and 10-year gilts yields were down to 0.821%. Yields move in the opposite direction from prices.

Stocks in Asia mostly fell as Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.8%, Japan's Nikkei 225 index was lower 1.4%, and China's benchmark Shanghai Composite declined 1.7%.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-19-21 0501ET