By Michele Maatouk and Andrea Tryphonides Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--European stocks suffered modest losses Thursday, weighed down by weakness in the basic resources sector, amid concerns over the possible tightening of fiscal policy in China. Trade was fairly muted and expected to remain so until the U.S. opens later in the session. "We probably won't see much in the way of movement ahead of this afternoon's U.S. trade numbers and weekly jobless figures [at 1330 GMT]. For the moment, stocks are treading water, albeit near the top end of their recent ranges, awaiting indications of some new direction," said Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets. By 1145 GMT, the Stoxx Europe 600 index was flat at 258.2. London's FTSE 100 index fell 0.3% to 5626.4, Frankfurt's DAX index rose 0.1% to 5941.2, and the CAC-40 index in Paris was 0.2% lower at 3934.1. Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures indicated a flat to slightly lower open on Wall Street. The March Dow Jones Industrial Average futures contract was down 0.1% at 10,493 and the S&P 500 futures contract was flat at 1141.1. Losses in the mining sector proved to be a particular drag on the London blue-chip index, with only Antofagasta managing to buck the trend after an upgrade from Deutsche Bank. "It is interesting to note that of all the major indexes, the FTSE 100 is the only one to break above its January high, suggesting that this current move is very much commodity-driven, and that any tightening [of fiscal policy] in China could well leave the FTSE more exposed... than other equity indexes," said Hewson. Among individual stocks, Lagardere fell 7% after the company reported lower-than-expected 2009 earnings and predicted another year of declining operating profit. This was compounded by a broker downgrade. Elsewhere, K+S dropped 2.3% after the company disappointed investors by saying that its outlook relies heavily on its salt operations and less on its main business, fertilizers. In Asia, stock markets ended mixed Thursday, with several markets paring gains as resource stocks fell after Chinese economic data sparked fresh worries of further tightening measures from Beijing. China's Shanghai Composite traded in a choppy manner, closing 0.1% higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 1.0%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended down 0.1%. China's data showed the consumer price index rose 2.7% from a year earlier in February, higher than the median forecast of a 2.4% rise in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 11 economists. In the European foreign exchange markets, fears over China drove the dollar and the yen a little higher, but both currencies soon fell back again. At 1205 GMT, the dollar stood at Y90.68, up from Y90.52 late Wednesday in New York, while the euro traded at Y123.83, up from Y123.53. The euro was barely changed at $1.3657. Investors warned that the euro and dollar could slip if U.S. initial jobless claims disappoint. Elsewhere, spot gold was trading at $1105.85 per troy ounce down $2.50 from the New York close, after falling to a two-week low overnight. But the front-month April Nymex crude oil futures contract was up nine cents at $82.18 per barrel after touching a fresh eight-week high Wednesday on data showing tighter U.S. fuel supplies and rising demand. European government bonds were lower. The June bund futures contract was down 0.30 at 122.31. -By Michele Maatouk, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9447; michele.maatouk@dowjones.com

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