Stock markets hit pause button after big gains

London: Investors hit the pause button on Europe's main stock markets and on Wall Street on Thursday as they consolidated bumper gains seen earlier in the week.

A day after hitting a 2016 high on strong Chinese trade data London's benchmark FTSE 100 index ended barely changed in cautious trade, after the Bank of England said it was keeping its key lending rate at a record low 0.50 percent, where it has stood since March 2009.

In addition to posting its unanimous decision the bank also again warned a British exit from the European Union would have a negative impact.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index added 0.7 percent in its fifth consecutive session of gains, while the Paris CAC 40 managed a 0.5 percent increase.

"After the push early in the week, it's no surprise that the market has gone into stabilisation mode," said Alexandre Baradez, an analyst at IG France.

Asian and European stocks had churned higher Wednesday on strong Chinese trade data, building on the previous day's solid gains driven by soaring oil prices.

Wall Street stocks were a tick higher as banking shares cooled off following lower earnings from Bank of America and Wells Fargo, both boosting their reserves to cover bad energy loans.

- Money off table -

"The slight move lower we are seeing could be attributed to investors acting cautiously and deciding to take some money off the table following the recent rally," David Cheetham at London-based brokerage XTB told AFP.

Asian stocks rallied for a second straight session Thursday, tracking gains in New York where traders cheered surprisingly upbeat earnings from Wall Street titan JPMorgan Chase.

The renewed confidence saw investors shift out of the safe investment yen, which in turn helped Japan's Nikkei soar more than three percent.

A shock decision by Singapore to loosen monetary policy sent the island-state's dollar tumbling, dragging down other emerging market currencies.

Hong Kong was up 0.9 percent while Shanghai ended 0.5 percent higher. Sydney climbed 1.3 percent and Seoul shot up 1.8 percent.

Tokyo led the gains, with the Nikkei flying 3.2 percent higher. Japanese exporters were the big beneficiaries of another drop in the yen against the dollar.

- Key figures around 1600 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 6,365.10 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.7 percent at 10,093.65 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 4,511.51 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.6 percent at 3,057,89

New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 17,937.45

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 3.2 percent at 16,011.05 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,082.36 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.9 percent at 21,337.81 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1255 from $1.1276 on Wednesday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.28 yen from 109.33 yen