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'Lucky' Sinner defeats big-hitting Berrettini to reach Wimbledon third round
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Messi a doubt for Argentina ahead of Copa quarter-final
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British tennis ace Raducanu votes for 'lie-in' on election day
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France film director Jacquot charged with raping two actors
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Israel 'evaluating' new Hamas 'ideas' on halting Gaza war
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Venezuela, US agree to 'improve relations,' says Caracas
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Under-fire Kenya govt says to review state salary hikes
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Thousands told to flee raging California wildfire
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Osaka focuses on Olympics after Wimbledon KO
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Tens of thousands flee south Gaza as tensions soar
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US Fed officials stressed 'patience' on rate cuts: minutes
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Blond not bombs as Fognini learns to love Wimbledon
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New lithium plant inaugurated in Argentina
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Threads hits 175 mn users on first anniversary
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French court says Netflix shark hit can keep streaming in copycat row
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Comeback king 'Cav' to carry on doing the thing he loves
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Alcaraz marches on at Wimbledon as Osaka returns to Centre Court
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Biden under pressure as Democratic panic rises
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Belarus frees 'some political prisoners': exiled opposition leader
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Alcaraz coasts into Wimbledon third round
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Cavendish makes Tour de France history with 35th stage win
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Everton sign forward Ndiaye from Marseille
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Bailed Indian opposition leader to return as chief minister
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World's oldest artwork discovered in Indonesian cave
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Toney urges England to kick on after Euros reprieve
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Murray teams up with Raducanu in Wimbledon mixed doubles
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Former England rugby coach Jack Rowell dies aged 87
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Hurricane Beryl bears down on Jamaica
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US trade deficit expands less than expected in May: govt
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'The god took away my son': Indians grieve after deadly stampede
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Moscow hit by heat not seen in over a century
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US private hiring eases unexpectedly in June: ADP
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Confident Kroos says Germany-Spain clash 'won't be my last game'
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Paris bars to open 24h for Olympics opening ceremony
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Putin, Xi vie for influence at Central Asian summit
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Germany, Sweden arrest eight over Syria crimes against humanity
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French giant Mpetshi Perricard joins Wimbledon heavy artillery
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Two-time Major winner Langer to make 'emotional' European Tour bow
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French PM urges united front to stop far-right takeover
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Olympic silver medallist gymnast Poujade dies at 51
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Bhole Baba: preacher at centre of Indian stampede disaster
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Microsoft to invest 2.2 bn euros in Spain data centres
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Showdowns, young guns and own goals as Euro 2024 head into quarter-finals
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Russia advances in east, kills five in Dnipro strikes
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France prosecutors request rape charges against film director
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Schumacher blackmail suspects had 'family photos'
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EU clears Lufthansa's proposed ITA Airways stake, with conditions
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Indian World Cup winners head home after hurricane delay
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120,000 'stolen' babies: Georgia's trafficking scandal
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Only far right can win absolute majority, French PM warns
European stocks advance, AI propels US into record territory
European stock markets rose Thursday as central banks made interest rate calls while AI enthusiasm pushed Wall Street higher from record closes.
The euro remained under pressure over France's political uncertainty, with just two weeks to go until a snap election in the country.
Switzerland's franc dipped against the dollar after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced its second straight interest-rate cut, having become in March the first Western central bank to slash borrowing costs that had been raised to battle inflation.
The Bank of England (BoE) held rates steady as expected ahead of UK's July 4 general election, as did Norway's central bank.
The BoE's decision to keep its key rate at a 16-year high came just a day after official data showed UK headline consumer inflation had finally come down to the bank's two percent target.
- Central banks -
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey welcomed inflation returning to target, but said: "We need to be sure that inflation will stay low and that's why we've decided to hold rates at 5.25 percent for now."
The statement following the meeting opened the door to a rate cut in August, however, according to Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading firm XTB, pleasing the market.
"The market has taken today's news as a step in the direction of a rate cut at the next BoE meeting. The market is now pricing in a 60 percent chance of a rate cut in August, up from a 35 percent chance before the meeting," she said.
The European Central Bank cut its rate earlier this month, while the US Federal Reserve is expected to introduce only one rate reduction this year.
Central banks worldwide had ramped up borrowing costs in recent years to control inflation, which surged when economies emerged from Covid pandemic lockdowns and accelerated after energy producer Russia invaded agricultural power Ukraine in early February 2022.
A day after a public holiday, Wall Street's S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pushed higher at the open Thursday from record closes on Tuesday, setting new all-time highs.
Market enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has driven a surge in tech stocks, in particular Nvidia which produces high-end processors prized for AI applications.
Nvidia's market capitalisation edged past Microsoft on Tuesday to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
Market analyst Patrick O'Hare said it was unclear if tech stocks would continue to churn higher.
"This morning's economic data was aligned with an economic slowing that could raise questions about the achievability of earnings growth expectations and the Fed's decision to keep its policy rate higher for longer," he said.
Initial jobless claims for last week came in slightly higher than expected while housing starts fell.
Data showing slowing growth gives the Federal Reserve some freedom to ease monetary policy, but so far US central bank officials have indicated they wanted to see more evidence of inflation coming down before committing to an interest cut.
Analysts say this means there will be two reductions at most, with many predicting just one this year -- in line with the Fed's "dot plot" gauge released last week.
- Key figures around 1330 GMT -
New York - Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 38,808.77 points
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 5,496.42
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 17,917.51
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,236.60
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 7,633.49
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 18,146.45
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.8 percent at 4,923.19
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 38,633.02 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.5 percent at 18,335.32 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,005.44 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0725 from $1.0745 on Wednesday
Euro/pound: UP at 84.55 pence from 84.44 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 158.58 yen from 157.90 yen
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2684 from $1.2726
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $82.27 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.0 percent at $85.88 per barrel
burs-rl/lth
M.Gameiro--PC