LONDON, Nov 24: European stock markets fell in subdued trading on Thursday amid Thanksgiving in the United States, after failing to extend the previous day’s gains in the wake of a pre-holiday rally by Wall Street.

London’s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.44 per cent to 5,507.20 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 lost 0.24 per cent to 5,183.66 points and in Paris the CAC 40 fell 0.46 per cent to 4,587.29.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares shed 0.37 per cent to 3,458.50 points.

The euro stood at 1.1784 dollars.

US stocks had marched upwards on Wednesday, as the main blue-chip index flirted with four-and-a-half-year high points, with sentiment lifted by a dip in oil prices and optimism about the key holiday shopping season, dealers said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41 per cent to 10,916.09 points in thin trade ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday that has forced Wall Street to shut on Thursday.

The blue-chip index had traded as high as 10,950 points — which would have been the highest close since June 2001.

The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.28 per cent to 2,259.98 points and the broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 added 0.35 per cent to 1,265.61. The S and P 500 and Nasdaq already are at the best levels for four and a half years.

In London on Thursday, mining issues lent support to a subdued market, dealers said.

Prompted by overnight gains in Australia by miners, Anglo American jumped 1.30 per cent to 1,875 pence, BHP Billiton rose 1.14 per cent to 885 pence and Rio Tinto gained 0.21 per cent to 2,389 pence.

But Kesa Electricals, the British electricals-to-furniture retailer, dived 3.39pc to 242 pence on weaker than expected third-quarter sales figures.

In Paris, Euronext gained 0.74 per cent to 37.88 euros after the pan-European stock market operator exceeded market expectations by announcing a tripling of net profit in the third quarter to 71.2 million euros (83.9 million dollars).

Euronext is seen as a possible bidder for the London Stock Exchange.—AFP