European markets were set to open higher on Thursday morning, after the Federal Reserve announced a plan to begin unwinding its balance sheet and signaled one more interest rate hike for this year. Britain's FTSE 100 is poised to open 7 points higher at 7,271; the German Dax is expected to open up by around 61 points at 12,630 while the French CAC is set to open 28 points higher at 5,266. As widely expected, the U.S. central bank said it would begin trimming its massive holding of U.S. Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities in October. The Fed also suggested it still expects one more interest rate hike before the end of the year, with investors projecting this would most likely happen in its final meeting of 2017, in mid-December. Asian shares were mixed on Thursday, after slim gains on Wall Street in the previous session. In Japan, the country's central bank left its policy settings unchanged and maintained its upbeat view of the economy. The Nikkei was up 0.32 percent after a fall in the yen against the U.S. dollar boosted exporters. Back in Europe, euro area consumer confidence data is expected to be released at around 3 p.m. London time on Thursday. Source: CNBC
