Shares little changed as investors mull prospects of further gains

European stocks were little changed as investors weighed prospects for further gains after the biggest annual rally since 2009 and as data revealed a slowdown in China’s services-industry growth.

US equity-index futures were also little changed, while Asian shares declined. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.2 per cent to 326.32 earlier in London. The gauge yesterday fell the most since December 17th as a measure of US manufacturing fell. European equities rallied 17 per cent last year as central banks around the world left interest rates low.

Futures on the Standard and Poor's 500 Index lost less than 0.1 per cent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 0.4 per cent. "Markets are trying to find direction," Soeren Steinert, who helps manage about $24 billion as associate director for equities trading at Quoniam Asset Management GmbH in Frankfurt, wrote in an email. "We saw a weak start into the new year yesterday and European markets are starting unchanged, after a weak performance in US and Asian markets." Services growth in China fell in December to the slowest in four months, data showed today. A purchasing managers' index for the non-manufacturing industries fell to 54.6 from 56 in November, a report the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing showed. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.

Next jumped to its highest price in at least 25 years after increasing the profit forecast for its full accounting year and announcing a special dividend. Remy Cointreau slipped 1.4 per cent after Frederic Pflanz resigned as chief executive.

Reuters