European Shares Seen Higher In Wake Of Fed Minutes

(RTTNews) - European stocks look set to open higher on Thursday after declining for four straight sessions. Investors can heave a sigh of relief as the Federal Reserve's July meeting minutes showed there is a lack of consensus among policy makers over whether to raise rates soon.

The FOMC minutes highlighted improvements in the economy but there was no clear consensus among officials over the outlook for growth, hiring and inflation. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who is also a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said in a speech on Wednesday that a single rate hike will likely suffice for the "foreseeable future."

While U.S. stocks recovered from early weakness to close marginally higher overnight, Asian shares traded mixed in cautious trade. While Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led regional gains with a 1.2 percent rise after solid home price data from China, a firmer yen sent Japan's Nikkei index down about 1 percent.

Oil prices dipped in Asian deals as speculation that Saudi output could boost crude output in August overshadowed news of a drop in U.S. crude inventories.

Gold and copper edged up slightly on a weaker dollar. The Aussie dollar ticked higher after solid employment data took pressure off the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates further.

Elsewhere, Japan's exports fell more than forecast in July but imports also dropped at their fastest pace since 2009, resulting in a bigger-than-expected trade surplus, the Ministry of Finance said.

Looking ahead, French jobs data, U.K. retail sales figures and U.S. reports on weekly jobless claims, Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity and leading economic indicators are slated for release later in the day.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 0.8 percent on Wednesday as ASML Holding NV and Carlsberg AS posted disappointing results and investors waited for clues from the Fed's July meeting minutes.

The German DAX tumbled 1.3 percent, France's CAC 40 index shed 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped half a percent.