European Shares Set For Cautious Start

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open slightly lower on Wednesday following another losing session on Wall Street overnight.

Trading volumes are likely to remain thin as investors brace for the Easter weekend.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Japan's Nikkei climbing over 1 percent as the yen hit a 34-year low on dovish comments from BOJ board member Naoki Tamura calling for a slow but steady policy normalization.

Chinese and Hong Kong markets were moving lower despite encouraging industrial profits data for the first two months of the year.

The dollar held steady in Asian trading while gold moved in a tight range ahead the release of key PCE price index data and speeches from Fed speakers, due later in the week.

Treasuries steadied after rebounding from session lows on Tuesday following a $67 billion sale of five year-notes.

Oil extended overnight losses as the API report showed a large build in U.S. inventories.

U.S. stocks gave up early gains to end lower overnight as investors assessed the impact of a significant bridge collapse in the Baltimore port area on markets and the economy.

On the data front, the latest readings on new orders for manufactured durable goods and consumer confidence painted a mixed picture of the world's largest economy.

The Dow slipped marginally and the S&P 500 eased 0.3 percent to end lower for a third straight session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 percent to extend losses for a second day.

European stocks rose on Tuesday in a relatively quiet and holiday-shortened week. The pan European STOXX 600 recovered from an early slide to finish 0.2 percent higher.

The German DAX climbed 0.7 percent, France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 percent.