By Christopher Whittall 

Stocks in Europe opened lowered Thursday, dragged down by declines in utility and banking stocks, in what is likely to be light trading due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.5% in early trade after rising over 1% Wednesday to snap a five-day-losing streak. U.S. futures edged down after the S&P 500 rose 0.3% Wednesday as markets stabilized following a volatile start to the week. Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mostly higher Thursday, led by indexes in Australia and Japan.

A rebound in technology and energy stocks helped steady U.S. benchmark indexes Wednesday following a sharp selloff that ripped through markets in the two previous sessions. U.S. markets are closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The lurch lower in oil prices has weighed on energy companies, adding to the market volatility that has been fueled by concerns about slowing global growth, trade tensions and heady valuations in the technology sector.

Large tech firms helped drive the S&P 500 up nearly 10% this year to its peak in mid-September. But the benchmark index is now in negative territory for the year following the weekslong selloff, leading investors to question the robustness of the nearly 10-year bull market.

"The stocks that were most in the crosshairs of those concerns are the ones that went up the most: the tech stocks," said Toby Gibb a portfolio manager at Fidelity International.

"We are late cycle and that has implications for markets in a number of different areas. An increase in volatility is one of them," he added.

Still, Mr. Gibb said the recent selloff has created opportunities, highlighting auto stocks as one area where he sees value currently.

In commodities, oil prices slipped lower Thursday with brent crude, the international benchmark, down 0.6% at $63.11 a barrel. Oil prices recovered Wednesday despite a surprise rise in inventories in the U.S. Concerns about global growth and increasing supply have driven brent prices down over 20% in the past month.

Utility stocks dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 lower Thursday, with Centrica PLC, the owner of British Gas, down over 7% after reporting results that failed to comfort investors following a series of recent challenges.

Banking stocks were also under pressure, with the Stoxx Europe 600 banking subindex down 1%.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia's S&P ASX 200 rose 0.9% to snap a four-session losing streak. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.7% after two days of declines. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.3%. China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2%.

There was little movement in currency markets. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the buck against a basket of 16 others, was roughly flat.

Write to Christopher Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 22, 2018 04:15 ET (09:15 GMT)

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