European stock markets pushed higher on Thursday, managing to shake off the pessimism around the globe.

In London, the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) rose 0.3% by noon trade, while the French CAC (^FCHI) gained 1.1% and the DAX (^GDAXI) was 0.6% higher in Germany.

Travel and hospitality shares are among the risers in London, while mining companies are lagging, following a fall in commodity prices.

“The FTSE 100 started on the front foot on Thursday as investors faced competing catalysts from East and West,” AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said.

“Some decent corporate news and an upbeat report from the US manufacturing sector outweighed continuing worries about China which dragged down mining stocks and other firms with links to the Chinese economy including luxury brand Burberry."

Across the pond, S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were down 0.2% and Dow futures (YM=F) were 0.1% lower, while Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were 0.3% down a few hours before the opening bell in New York.

It comes as traders will have their eyes on US retail sales data later in the day. 

Analysts fear this could show evidence of further setbacks for the US economic recovery, as prices soar and the number of Delta cases continues to spread.

Asian shares gave up early gains to fall into the red again overnight, dragged by sharp declines in China and Hong Kong. This was even after a strong lead-in from Wall Street which had also pushed the dollar to the lower end of its recent range.

New data showed that China’s retail sales and factory output growth slowed, given fresh Delta variant outbreaks and supply chain disruptions.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) fell almost 2% on the day, with property names continuing to decline, while the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) dipped 1.3%. 

In Japan, the Nikkei (^N225) fell 0.6% after the country cut its growth forecasts as a surge of COVID cases dampened consumer confidence. This was after the index in Tokyo hit a 31-year high on Monday.

Kyle Rodda of IG said: “The regional issues very much revolve around continued concerns about growth, China’s crackdown on its private sector, as well the unfolding collapse Chinese property developer Evergrande group, as talks of some sort of restructuring gather steam, after a suspension in the trading of the company’s bonds were announced.

“Overall, markets in Asia, and globally at that, remain still in a very angsty environment, with volatility creeping up as calls grow for a perhaps prolonged patch of weak risk sentiment.”

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