Seoul Gazette - Eurozone stock markets hit fresh records on rate cut hopes

Paris struck an all-time peak above 8,200 points and Frankfurt reached a new summit past 18,000.

Bitcoin hit a fresh record high at $73,797.

"Lower interest rates are conducive to company growth and economic growth helping indices higher," noted Fiona Cincotta, markets analyst at City Index trading group.

She cautioned, however, that "inflation is sticky, and data later today will shed light on the continued resilience of the jobs market and the consumer" in the United States.

Asian traders also moved cautiously.

Hong Kong retreated for a second day after a recent rally, while Shanghai, Sydney, Jakarta and Wellington were also lower.

Tokyo rose on a weaker yen, though traders are awaiting a Bank of Japan meeting next week as speculation swirls that policymakers may begin moving away from an ultra-loose monetary policy -- the opposite issue facing most Western economies.

Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Mumbai, Manila and Bangkok also rose.

Investors are keeping tabs on China-US tensions after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force TikTok's Chinese ByteDance owner to divest from the company or see the platform banned in the United States.

China warned the decision will "inevitably come back to bite the United States".

- Tech suffers -

On Wall Street, share price pullbacks Wednesday for tech giants including Nvidia, Apple and Tesla weighed on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, though the Dow ended slightly higher.

Italy's competition authority on Thursday fined TikTok 10 million euros ($11 million), saying the hugely popular video app had failed to sufficiently protect minors.

That came as the European Commission sent formal requests for information to TikTok, Facebook, X and other online platforms to examine how they are countering artificial intelligence risks such as deepfakes.

The EC on Thursday additionally sent a formal request for information from LinkedIn, Microsoft's networking platform for professionals, about how users' personal information is being used for targeting advertising.

Oil prices ticked higher, having rallied more than two percent Wednesday in reaction to falling US stockpiles and news that Ukraine had hit Russian refineries.

- Key figures around 1200 GMT -

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 8,205.01

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 18,021.50

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.5 percent at 5,025.17

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,767.04 points

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 38,807.38 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 16,961.66 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,038.23 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 39,043.32 points (close)

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.73 yen from 147.78 yen on Wednesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0942 from $1.0952

Pound/dollar: UP $1.2808 from $1.2799

Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.43 pence from 85.54 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $80.29 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.6 percent at $84.49 per barrel

B.Ha--SG