Europe stocks steady as US futures inch higher Friday 08:00 GMT. European bourses are opening on a tentative note after inheriting a mixed session in Asia and as traders look to see whether Wall Street can advance further into virgin territory. The dollar and gold are slightly softer, Treasury yields are nudging higher and industrial commodity prices are easing back. US financial markets were shut for Thanksgiving on Thursday and the New York Stock Exchange will be open for just half a day on Friday. Index futures suggest the S&P 500 will nudge up 2 points to 1,809, on course to end the week at a fresh record having risen 27 per cent in 2013. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 is easing 0.1 per cent with the FTSE Asia-Pacific index unchanged, leaving the FTSE All-World holding at its best levels since Christmas 2007. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell from a near six-year high, losing 0.4 per cent as the yen showed signs of steadying after recent weakness following mixed economic news that may have raised questions about the duration and depth of the Bank of Japan's stimulus efforts. Japanese industrial production figures for October showed 0.5 per cent growth month-on-month - lower than the 2 per cent advance forecast by economists. However, core consumer price inflation data for October - which excludes fresh food but includes energy - hit 0.9 per cent year-on-year growth for the month, up from the 0.7 per cent recorded in September and in line with economists" expectations. The dollar rose to Y102.60 early in the Asian session but the yen has pared those losses to trade a few pips firmer at Y102.28. Other currencies in focus include the euro, with traders awaiting the bloc's inflation data, due later in the day. The single currency is up just 8 pips to $1.3611 as investors absorb S&P's divergent call on the credit ratings of the Netherlands and Spain. German Bunds are outperforming their peers, with yields nudging down 1 basis point 1.69 per cent. The Australian dollar is flirting with near 3-month lows, currently off 0.1 per cent to US$0.9092 after the nation's government rejected a multibillion-dollar bid for Graincorp, the agricultural group, while miner Rio Tinto revealed further cost-cutting measures that heightened concerns over the health of the country's mining sector. Sydney's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.3 per cent, after Graincorp's shares lost 22 per cent. The resource-sensitive bourse was not helped by a mixed performance by commodities. Copper is up 0.3 per cent to $3.23 a pound but Brent crude is slipping 8 cents to $110.78 a barrel. Gold is up $1 to $1,245 an ounce, but only several bucks above its four-month closing low. The bullion has weakened as the opportunity cost of holding the metal has climbed with bond yields. The benchmark US 10-year yield is up 2 basis points to 2.75 per cent, nudged higher of late by expectations that better recent US economic data may bring forward when the US Federal Reserve starts trimming its $85bn-a-month stimulus programme. The prospects of reduced Fed largesse has been weighing on many emerging markets assets in recent months as investors think higher US interest rates and less liquidity will make funds harder to come by. The Bank of Indonesia was believed to have intervened to support the rupiah on Friday, after the currency dropped to 12,000 versus the dollar, the weakest since March 2009. In official trading the rupiah is firmer by 0.2 per cent to Rps11,970.