European markets saw a muted open on Thursday morning in London, with the FTSE 100 pulling back slightly at the opening bell. 

Markets are being weighed by talk of the European Central Bank withdrawing its monetary stimulus due to rising inflation.

BHP Group (BHP.L) was among the top fallers in the FTSE, falling 4.8% in early trade as it was outbid for a nickel miner active in Canada’s highly-prospective Ring of Fire region by billionaire Andrew Forrest. 

Nickel is a key ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and to store renewable power — and the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario is seen among Canada’s largest untapped reserves of the metal.

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was trading almost flat by 8.30am in London. Meanwhile the DAX (^GDAXI) was up 0.1% and the CAC (^FCHI) was flat. 

US stock futures also pointed to a broadly muted open later on. S&P 500 (ES=F) and Dow futures (YM=F) were both trading flat, while the Nasdaq (NQ=F) looked set to open 0.1% higher. 

The cautious moves come following the ADP job report on Wednesday, which showed the labour market recovery in the US is taking longer than expected. 

"As a result, investor sentiment was mixed in yesterday's session, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rising while the Dow fell," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.

"It is worth noting that Nasdaq, the tech-savvy index, closed yesterday's session at an all-time high as investors shifted to defensive stocks."

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Markets in Asia saw a mixed close overnight. The Hang Seng (^HSI) was flat, the SSE Composite (000001.SS) was up 0.7% and the Nikkei (^N225) rose 0.3%. 

Cautious moves were compounded by fears that the Chinese government would move to impose more crackdowns. Reuters reported that 11 ride hailing firms had been summoned by the government to a meeting. 

"Another day, another clampdown," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at OANDA. "Dip-buyers in China equities will keep dipping their toes. However, I believe we are a long way still from repricing China equities to a level that balances the Government's "enthusiasm" for common prosperity."

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