Investors are awaiting US payrolls data to see if it challenges or cements expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut, while the euro stumbles towards a flat week as France is gripped by political turmoil.

European stocks edged up 0.3 per cent after market open on Friday, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was broadly flat, weighed by a 0.6 per cent dip for insurer Aviva after it said it was set to buy rival Direct Line in a Stg3.6 billion ($A7.1 billion) deal.

Investors were training their sights on the crucial US payrolls report due later in the day.

US stock futures were broadly flat before Wall Street open.

Forecasts are centred on a rise of 200,000 jobs in November, rebounding from a soft 12,000 gain in October when the result was impacted by hurricanes and strikes.

Futures markets put a 67 per cent chance on a rate cut by the Fed on December 18.

“It’s going to be very closely watched … If we don’t get a big surprise around that jobs number, I think the market will pretty much take the fact the Fed will cut again in its meeting,” said Shaneel Ramjee, senior investment manager at Pictet.

The Aviva swoop on Direct Line in Britain was further evidence of a pick-up in dealmaking across markets, Ramjee said.

“Throughout both Europe and the US, these deals are starting to get done, and that just means more activity in the economy,” he said.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed earlier losses to be up 0.2 per cent thanks to a rally in Chinese shares, making up for investor caution around political ructions in South Korea.

Chinese shares had climbed to three-week highs as investors scooped up technology shares before a top-level policy meeting next week that will set the agenda and targets for China’s economy in 2025.

The risk premium investors demand to hold French debt rather than German Bunds dropped to a new two-week low on Friday after President Emmanuel Macron said he would appoint a new prime minister soon to get a 2025 budget approved by parliament.

The euro had rallied on Thursday, on market relief that France had avoided a more volatile political outcome for now.

The euro dipped 0.2 per cent on the day at $US1.057275 and was set to be broadly unchanged on the week.

Bitcoin, which hit the $US100,000 mark for the first time as investors bet on a friendly US regulatory shift, ran into profit-taking.

It tumbled as far as $US92,092 and was last down 0.7 per cent on the day at $US98,334.

In the foreign exchange market, the US dollar index gained 0.2 per cent to 105.87, but remained pinned near three-week lows.

Treasuries were mostly steady on Friday.

The two-year yield held at 4.1662 per cent, while 10-year benchmark Treasury yields were flat at 4.1857 per cent.

Oil prices dipped as the decision from OPEC+ to delay a planned hike in output to April highlighted concerns about weak demand.

Brent crude futures fell 0.5 per cent to $US71.71, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures also dipped 0.5 per cent to $US67.97 a barrel.

Gold prices inched higher on Friday, up 0.4 per cent to $US2,641 per ounce, but were headed for a second straight week of declines.

This post was originally published on Michael West.