European stocks were flat ahead of a European Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday and Asian markets outside China were mostly lower after disappointing U.S. earnings reports dented investor sentiment, AP reported. Europe got off to a cautious start with Britain's FTSE 100 down 0.2 percent at 6,335.64 and Germany's DAX up 0.2 percent at 10,259.36. France's CAC 40 dipped 0.1 percent to 4,692.43. Wall Street was set to rise. Dow futures were up 0. 2 percent and S&P 500 futures gained 0.3 percent. Chinese stocks closed higher after zigzagging between positive and negative. The Shanghai Composite Index finished up 1.5 percent at 3,368.74 following a 3 percent slide Wednesday. Asian stock markets outside China closed mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent to 18,435.87 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 1 percent to 2,023.00. But Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3 percent to 5,263.80. Shares of Samsung Engineering nosedived 19 percent in Seoul after reporting a quarterly net loss of 1.3 trillion won ($1.14 billion) for the July-September quarter. Benchmark U.S. crude added 47 cents to $45.69 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.09 to close at $45.20 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 45 cents to $48.30 a barrel in London. The euro weakened to $1.1311 from $1.1339. The dollar fell to 119.78 yen from 119.90 yen.
