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| - Stock markets took a breather Thursday after several stronger sessions as nervous investors kept an eye on stimulus talks in Washington and China-US tensions weighed on confidence. In Europe, London did worst as the pound rallied on the back of a less pessimistic outlook by the Bank of England, hurting the earnings prospects of exporters in the FTSE 100 index. British interest rates were left unchanged. "The FTSE 100 gave up a good portion of its recent gains... as investors weighed the latest decision on interest rates from the Bank of England," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. On Wall Street, the Dow was steady shortly after the opening, following four straight sessions of gains which had been fuelled by bets that US lawmakers will eventually reach a deal on more stimulus for the world's top economy. While the two parties remain far apart on their proposals -- with Democrats' $3.5 trillion plan more than three times bigger than the Republicans' offer -- there was hope for a deal. "For now our sense is that no politician in the US wants to be blamed for a failure to deliver a new round of stimulus ahead of the elections in November," said National Australia Bank's Rodrigo Catril. A smaller number of US weekly jobless claims than analysts had expected was welcomed, and prepared the ground for Friday's key employment report for July, analysts said. The China-US stand-off meanwhile continued to jar nerves, with a planned visit by US health secretary Alex Azar to Taiwan sparking a spat. "China will likely interpret the trip as a provocative move ahead of planned US-China trade talks on August 15," said Stephen Innes at AxiCorp. London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.3 percent at 6,023.17 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.5 percent at 12,602.85 Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.9 percent at 4,889.79 EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,243.79 New York - Dow: FLAT at 27,199.79 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 22,418.15 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.7 percent at 24,930.58 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,386.46 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1862 from $1.1863 at 2100 GMT Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3171 from $1.3113 Euro/pound: DOWN at 90.05 pence from 90.47 pence Dollar/yen: DOWN at 105.36 yen from 105.60 yen West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.9 percent at $42.58 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 1.1 percent at $45.65 burs/jh/tgb
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