European equities little changed ahead of Trump inauguration

On Friday European equity benchmarks were little changed as investors turned their focus to the inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president, and whether he can continue to fuel investor expectations of stronger economic growth boosted by more deficit spending and tax cuts.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was at 362.44 at 9:45 a.m. in London, about 1.3 percent below its 52week high, reached on the 3 January. The index has lacked momentum since its outperformance of the U.S. S&P 500 Index in December. The banks subindex climbed 0.2 percent, advancing for a second day.

Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the 45th American president later on Friday. Billionaire George Soros said Trump will fail and the stock market rally since the November election, spurred by Trump’s promises to slash regulations and boost spending, will come to a halt.

In the run-up to the swearingin, U.S. equity funds have seen weekly outflows of $2.5 billion, according to a strategy note from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, citing data from EPFR Global.

Asian stocks fluctuate within narrow ranges as investors await U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1 percent, paring its first weekly decline in 2017. China’s Shanghai Composite index rose the most in more than two weeks as China’s gross domestic product accelerated for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter of 2016. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index had short-lived spikes before holding losses after a report that China cut the reserve ratio requirement for five major banks.

The private refiners made their mark on the global oil market last year with purchases from Saudi Arabia to Africa and Latin America, after they first received import approvals in 2015 as part of a government effort to revamp China’s energy industry.