Oil retreats from 5-week high

On Thursday European shares struggled to keep gains on Thursday in choppy trade as falls in commodity-facing firms weighed, with investors hunting for fresh direction in the aftermath of Europe’s blistering first quarter earnings season.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up just 0.1 pct, dipping in and out of positive territory and still below holding below 21-month highs. Euro zone blue chips .STOXX50E were 0.2 percent higher.

Oil retreated from a five-week high as investor attention turned from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s somewhat dovish message to the gathering of major crude producers in Vienna. The pound fell after disappointing output data.

West Texas oil swung between gains and losses before sliding as Saudi Arabia signaled Thursday’s meeting won’t produce a deeper cut than expected, even as OPEC and its allies appeared poised to extend their deal to reduce output. Meanwhile, the dollar steadied in the wake of the Fed minutes, which cast some doubt over the trajectory of interest rate increases but confirmed the likelihood of a June hike.

The Fed language was enough to spur risk appetite, as policy makers indicated they wanted more evidence that recent weakness in economic growth is transitory before removing monetary stimulus further. That helped U.S. and global stocks to post yet more record highs. The bullish sentiment was limited among stock investors in Europe, where some markets were closed today for the Ascension holiday.

Crude was trading 1.5 percent lower at $50.61 a barrel as of 6:30 a.m. in New York, after touching the highest level in more than a month. Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,256.75 an ounce.

Asian stocks snapped a two-day slide as South Korea’s equities reached another record and China’s benchmark rose the most in seven weeks, spurring speculation statebacked funds were active in the market. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.7 percent to 152.77 as of 5:12 p.m. in Hong Kong.