The main European stock markets, apart from Frankfurt, ended lower on Thursday on a backdrop of risk aversion in the run-up to the French parliamentary elections, while Wall Street was little changed ahead of key indicators and the first debate in the US presidential election.

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 1.03% at 7,530.72 points. The British Footsie gave up 0.55%. The German Dax, supported by real estate and industrial stocks, advanced by 0.30%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index was down 0.27%, the FTSEurofirst 300

by 0.44% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.43%.

At the time of closing in Europe, the Dow Jones was up 0.21%, while the Standard & Poor's 500 nibbled 0.02% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.21%.

Investors await the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on Thursday night, while on the economic front, the PCE price index figures will be released on Friday.

The day's data was mixed, with the final GDP figure for the first quarter coming in above the previous estimate and a decline in weekly jobless claims. New orders for key US-manufactured capital goods fell unexpectedly in May, while orders for core durable goods declined by 0.1% against a forecast rise of 0.2%.

In Europe, the retail (-1.88%) and basic resources (-0.86%) sectors suffered after H&M's disappointing results and Anglo American's downgrading.

On the bond segment, the yield on the French ten-year OAT

exceeded 3.278%, compared with a high of 3.242% for its Portuguese equivalent. The first round of early parliamentary elections in France is scheduled for Sunday in a highly polarized poll. A new televised debate will pit the leaders of the three main coalitions against each other in the evening, with polls showing the Rassemblement National (RN) in the lead, ahead of the left-wing alliance and the presidential majority.

VALUES IN EUROPE

OVHcloud jumped 14.17% after reporting higher-than-expected quarterly sales on Thursday.

Kering gained 4.67%, with BofA Global Research upgrading its rating on the luxury group from "underperform" to "buy".

Anglo American gave up 1.48% as Berenberg lowered its recommendation on the stock to "sell" from "hold", citing concerns over the group's new strategic plans.

H&M plunged 12.97% after reporting a second-quarter profit below expectations on Thursday and warning of lower sales in June, casting doubt on its annual operating margin target.

CURRENCIES

The dollar retreated by 0.15% against a basket of reference currencies, but remained close to the nearly two-month high reached on Wednesday at 106.13 points.

The euro advanced 0.24% to $1.0705, but is heading for a 1.4% loss for the month as a whole due to the political risk in France.

RATES

The yield on the ten-year German Bund ended stable at 2.448%, but the spread with its French equivalent of the same maturity climbed by more than nine basis points (bps) to 81.65 bps.

In the United States, the yield on ten-year Treasuries fell by nearly three basis points to 4.2864%.

OIL

Oil prices benefited from the risk of a supply disruption amid growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East: Brent crude advanced 0.47% to $85.65 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude 0.35% to $81.18.

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FOLLOWING FRIDAY: (Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Zhifan Liu)