The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks finished as investors eagerly await US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming, where he is expected to acknowledge the case for a September US interest rate cut.
London’s benchmark index lost earlier gains and finished just above the flat line.
Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.3% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris inched 0.1% higher .
The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) closed 0.4% in the green.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) reversed course and slipped 0.3% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) lost 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was down 0.4%, after the three indices closed in the green on Wednesday.
The pound neared a one-year high against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) at 1.3113.
The Fed's Jackson Hole symposium kicks off Thursday with investors on high alert for any shift in tone from the policymakers when Powell speaks at the event on Friday.
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